Teaching the Next Generation to Live as Citizens of Heaven

If you think things are bad in America today, you should have been there in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Only one in fifteen colonists attended church on Sunday. Slavery, genocide, and savagery were a way of life. Women were afraid to go out at night for fear of rape, and armed robberies took place in broad daylight. Immorality was rampant.

The stage was set for bold preachers to usher in what was later named The Great Awakening, a religious revival wherein a third of the colonists responded to the gospel, church attendance multiplied, hundreds of new churches were planted, seminaries were founded, and America was poised to become the greatest missionary-sending nation in history. 

Do you believe that there can be another spiritual awakening today? If it is to happen, we must engage in spiritual wars rather than culture wars. Most importantly, we must give our best energy to passing our spiritual legacy on to our grandkids, who will inherit the future.

The devil has a strategy. He wants to rile us up so that we fight the wrong battles. The battles we should be fighting are not against the culture of our day, but for the souls of our own children. In God’s Great Commission, he calls us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Your greatest mission field is that which is closest to you: your own family.

We’re Exiles in Babylon

In Jeremiah 29, about 600 years before Christ, we read that Jerusalem has been destroyed by the Babylonians. The survivors of that holocaust have been dragged in chains to Babylon. God’s exiled people desperately want to go home again.

It’s hard to live in a foreign land. Those Jewish exiles remember a world they used to inhabit and are nostalgic for the Jerusalem of their childhood. Many of us wish we could go back to the America of our childhood, when boys were boys, girls were girls, and people happily pledged allegiance to “one nation under God.”

It’s so tempting to join the fight to make America great again, but America is just the latest version of Babylon. We see the “evil one” at work in this culture, and sometimes we want out, just like those exiles from Jerusalem. Too often, we’re filled with fear when we see the dizzying speed at which things are changing in this country. We feel angry when we see the enemy reaching our kids and grandkids through social media, culture influencers or what’s being taught in schools.

So, what should we do about it? There are a few important things that we need to remember.

Remember How the Lord Expects Us to Behave

I’ve seen Facebook posts, email rants, and tweets from professing Christians that are absolutely toxic. I’ve watched preachers say hateful things about those on the other side of the cultural and political wars. I’m not shocked when Babylonians act like Babylonians, but I’m disappointed when those who claim Christ act worse than Babylonians. Christians are supposed to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. When our kids and grandkids don’t see those qualities in us, we can’t blame them for doubting whether Jesus really does make a difference in anyone’s life.

Instead of Shaking Our Fists, Let’s Get on Our Knees

The question that many people groups have faced since the dawn of time confronts us in 2022: how will we respond to a time of existential crisis? Sadly, most Christians today aren’t responding with a spiritual worldview, but rather with anger and frustration. We polarize rather than pray. We think that the problem is in the White House, courthouse, schoolhouse or movie house, but in reality, it’s in the Church house.

Remember That Our Citizenship Is in Heaven

In Philippians 3:20, Paul reminds his fellow Christians that “our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” He makes two things crystal clear: we’re not, first and foremost, patriotic Americans. Our citizenship is in Heaven. We pledge allegiance to the King of Kings, and our Constitution is the Holy Bible. Let’s not forget that our hope doesn’t come from the political right or the left, but from above. Yes, we should vote for the best candidate who we think will make this country a prosperous and peaceful as possible for our families, but Christ alone will redeem us, our family, and this world.

We Are Exiles in Babylon and It’s for a Good Purpose

The Judeans were in Babylon by God’s design. Do you believe that the same God has put us in this place in 2022 for such a time as this? In Christ’s Upper Room prayer, this is what he prayed for His disciples: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of this world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth (John 17:15-16).”

Stay Optimistic, Our Best Days Are Ahead of Us

Babylon is a gritty, dirty, discouraging place to live sometimes. But when He’s ready, God will take us home to our heavenly Jerusalem. All of history moves inexorably toward the Second Coming of our Lord and King. When it seems like the whole world is out of control, we can get discouraged, impatient and even resort to carnal weapons of warfare to try to pull down spiritual strongholds. Remember that history is His story. Everything happening today — the good, the bad, and the ugly — is playing right into his hands.

Sometimes I’m scared about the world that my grandchildren may inherit, but I’m even more concerned about where they will be in eternity. I’m committed to preparing them to be part of bringing about another Great Spiritual Awakening in this land. But, if that isn’t to be, and they will experience the apocalyptic events described in the book of Revelation, I want to help make them strong enough to stand for Jesus when those around them are falling away.

I don’t know whether you are at halftime, in the fourth quarter of your life, or even in sudden death overtime, but it’s time that you get into the only game that really matters for eternity — forging a future for the next generations. That’s why we started The Legacy Imperative — to motivate grandparents, who are the most loved by our kids, to pass on a legacy of faith to their grandchildren. Older folks can build bridges of faith for their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other next-generation youth. It begins by remembering how we are to respond to our temporary residence on this earth.

It’s not time to retire, it’s time to refire. Rather than fighting to recover the past, let’s pass on a legacy of faith to those who will inherit the future.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/monkeybusinessimages 

Dr. Robert “Bob” Petterson is an author, speaker, former pastor and founder of the Legacy Imperative, a ministry devoted to inspiring, mobilizing and equipping grandparents, parents and other advocates for Millennials and Generation Z to evangelize and disciple their loved ones who are far from the Christian faith.