“Cross-generational Grace!”

“Cross-generational Grace!”(I Pt.1:10-12)[20/12/2024].
In one meeting of pastors in my current presbytery I told my immediate leaders ( children whom I groomed) that when they talk about output they should consider also that the law of diminishing return cannot be undermined in evaluating output. Some of us were bulldozers too in our heyday and some of the prestigious congregations where the young enjoys while insulting us were built by our sweat and effort.
Unfortunately, we got to a point where some thought they could only hold sway by recruiting young people to disregard the very people through whom they rose to authority. But God has fixed it that nothing lasts forever.
We make a place better than we met it, not because we want to make a name for ourselves like the builders of the tower of Babel. We do so because we have an eye for the future generation.
The young generation must remain conscious of the fact that the places of honor they hold today did not begin today and will not end today. Work to ensure a better tomorrow because what you enjoy today is the sweat and pain of previous generations.
Peter, one of the closest aides of Jesus reminds his generation and ours that “Concerning the salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.”
The honor of it that should make us humble is that we have been privileged to be part of things, “even angels long to look into.”
Yes, we have not worked for the coming of Christ, so we too should consider our present work as mere few blocks being added to a building started long ago and which has to be completed years after we are gone! But Christ remains the same forever.
Hebrews puts it so well. In the fame book of faith, it concludes that all the fathers and mothers of faith “were all commended for their faith, “yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”(Heb.11:39-40).
Yes, salvation is cross-generational. Grace benefits the future more than it does to us. Let us search the scriptures intently and with the greatest care to be able to absorb this truth.
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit help us to search the scriptures intently and with the greatest care to know the time of Christ. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.