For the last two weeks, I’ve been following in the footsteps of Paul through Greece and Turkey with a tour group. A couple days ago, on our way to Pisidian Antioch, I shared a devotional based on Acts 13:13-41.

Given that a presidential election is just a few days away in the United States, I thought this reflection was relevant for the time we find ourselves in. Below, you’ll find the devotional I shared with our group.

Holy Spirit, use these words to open our hearts to more fully proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A few years ago, I felt like God was inviting me to have a hard conversation with someone I love dearly. As someone who struggles with being conflict averse, that seemed like the worst possible thing God could ask me to do. For weeks, I prayed about it, talked it over with my therapist, and tried to script the conversation. But I still didn’t have it in me to have this conversation.

One day, I was asking God to give me courage and I felt like He said to me: “Don’t do it for yourself. Do it for your grandchildren.”

You may not know this, but I don’t have grandchildren. In fact, this was before we even had our daughter. But God was turning my eyes from looking at the immediate to looking 50 years down the road.

You see, this conversation could make my life better. But what God helped me realize is that, more importantly, this conversation could change my life in a way that my grandchildren would be blessed.

As we’ve been on this trip, I’ve sensed a theme of legacy. If I remember correctly, we began this trip with singing “I Love to Tell the Story.” We’ve seen the legacies of the Greeks and the Romans, Alexander the Great and Atatürk. We’ve stood where Lydia was baptized and where Basil the Great defended the faith. Legacies passed down to the next generation for them to carry on.

Paul, upon arriving in Pisidian Antioch, stands up in the synagogue and tells the story of the faith handed down from Abraham all the way to Jesus. A story of legacy, of passing down the faith from generation to generation. And after sharing these things with the Jews in the synagogue, the next Sabbath, Paul gets run out, forcing him to announce to the Gentiles that Jesus has swung wide the gates into the family of God.

Paul was a faithful steward of the faith, receiving it from those who had gone before him and passing it on to those who would come after him. So I want to challenge you with two things this morning:

1. Who are you passing the faith down to?

Who are your children and your grandchildren—whether biological or spiritual—that you are passing down the faith to? As we’ve been on this trip, I’ve loved getting to hear stories about riding motorcycles with your grandchildren and going on runs with your children.

But it’s not just those you’re related to. I’ve loved hearing stories about mentoring low income young men and theological conversations with 14 year old youth. Who are you intentionally spending time with from another generation and are you passing down the faith to them?

The other challenge I have for you is this:

2. What kind of faith are you passing down to them?

We’ve come across saints who have had to ensure that the faith passed down was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Namely, we’ve learned about Paul and about Basil, who risked their lives to hold fast to the truth of the gospel.

Is the faith you are passing down one marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? Or is it one that sounds a lot like the slogans of capitalism, the agenda of a political party, or the lyrics of a pop singer? What faith are we passing down to our spiritual children and grandchildren? One that leads them into perfect love for God and neighbor? Or one that leads them into selfish love?

Dr. Beth Felker Jones is a professor at a Christian university. When she was asked why young people were leaving the faith, she said that it was not primarily because they didn’t like Jesus. Instead, it’s because they learned about God through the Scriptures and then looked at those who call themselves followers of Christ and saw a vast difference and said, “We don’t want to be part of that.” If we want the next generation to take on the faith we have been given, we need to make sure that the faith we are living out—the faith they are receiving—is true to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

A few days before we left, I shared with my discipleship band that I was struggling to believe that good triumphs evil. I had recently had a bad encounter with someone who has made ministry challenging and I told them that it felt like passive aggressiveness and anger would win over peace and love.

But standing in Athens in between a statue of Alexander the Great and the ruins of a temple to Zeus, I realized: powers come and powers go. The gods of the age will take on different names: Zeus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar. But at the end of the end of the day, gods come and go. But only one God remains to the very end: the One, True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Less than one week before a presidential election in the United States, maybe we need that reminder more than ever: powers come and powers go, but our God remains faithful forever.

So may we pass down that faith as our legacy. The faith that proclaims: Jesus is Lord.

Julius Caesar is not Lord.
Alexander the Great is not Lord.
Zeus is not Lord.
Donald Trump is not Lord.
Kamala Harris is not Lord.
I am not Lord.
You are not Lord.

Jesus is Lord.

All glory and honor to Him, both now and forevermore. Amen.

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