By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
My husband took on the large task of transferring our home videos to DVD. After the job was complete, we sat down to view these treasured memories and reminisce over days gone by. It’s one thing to view still-life photos. It’s quite another to watch your children in motion—running, laughing, playing, and talking. What a blessing to have these treasured memories for generations to come.
Reminiscing about days gone by has caused me some deep reflection. I’ve come to realize just how much each and every decision we make affects future generations. When we’re young, we don’t often concern ourselves with such things. We tend to live in the moment, not thinking terribly much about the past or future.
Growing older has its advantages. Reflecting on the past can be a good thing, especially if we allow it to change us for the better.
“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past” (Deuteronomy 32:7a).
Like it or not, our today is directly linked to our past. And how we approach tomorrow is directly linked to our actions in the here and now. Reflection can be a great teacher when it helps us ward off future mistakes.
What we do today does matter, and it will impact generations to come, whether we like it or not. I don’t believe God wants us to become obsessed by this realization, just more aware.
“But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Psalm 33:11).
Ideally, we should be more conscious of the things we say and do, considering the eternal ramifications of our actions and how they will affect future generations. What we say and how we say it is important. What we do and how we do it is important. Our lives interconnect from generation to generation in ways that we don’t even realize.
We should never take for granted the great responsibility we have been given to be representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ. Good or bad… our actions today will impact the generations to come.
For this reason, may even our thoughts be taken captive and made obedient to Christ.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7).
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