Merging Generations

There has always been this tremendous gap between the zeal of youth and the wisdom of the mature. Every generation struggles to marry the two with mostly failed attempts at the union. From the side of the youth comes the argument that the old ways are not relevant to today. The older generation agonizes over the methods of the young and fear all will be lost under their leadership into the future. Yet, every generation seems to make the transition and in actuality progress continues to yield better results in many cases than the former generation could produce. Just look around today and see that on every front improvements have been made. We drive better cars than did our fathers. We live in better houses and use better products of all kinds. Yet…I must confess that I get nervous when it comes to releasing the next generation to lead. I still want to tell them how to do it. You see, I am a control freak!

There is the potential for failure in this scenario of transition. That potential lies in the inclination that is resident with both the young as well as the old. Within the old is a kind of arrogance that looks down upon the efforts of the young. Within the young is this stubbornness that resists the counsel of the more mature, wanting to prove that they can make it happen. In the Bible there is the story of a young, newly crowned king by the name of Rehoboam. He was the son of the great king Solomon. At Solomons death and after Rehoboam’s coronation the people requested a new kind of compassion and sensitivity toward their needs that Rehoboam’s father never permitted. Rehoboam went to the older men for counsel and then to the younger men whom he had known growing up. Rehoboam took the counsel of the younger men and rejected the counsel of the older. The result was a rebellion that cost Rehoboam a divided Kingdom and antagonism that would last his entire reign and into the reign of his sons to follow.

The obvious answer here is a merging of the zeal of youth with the wisdom of the aged. We must have both to move forward as a people. Every Nation, every community and every church must see the two working together in order to move forward in a safe and constructive way. How can it work? There must be a surrender by both the old and the young to the Lordship of Christ. The same is true in every team effort from the football field to marriage. There has to be an abandoning of selfish hidden agendas for the common good.

May the Lord grant us the grace to renounce the pride of our opinions and embrace in faith the counsel of others. Let’s begin by looking at others, both young and old with an understanding that God has made them and placed them in our lives with a purpose. Truth mandates that we have to receive from each other in order to arrive at our desired destination.