The Bible says:
“Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
— Ecclesiastes 9: 6
Solomon is in this verse speaking of the dead. While they lived, he states, they loved, hated, and envied; or were passionate toward something.
But when they died their love, hatred and passion died with them and they are no longer involved in anything “under the sun.” After men die, this world is no longer a sphere in which they have any influence.
Regardless of what some think, our loved ones and friends do not come back to earth to interfere, intervene, and interrupt, to help or haunt us after they die. One must choose to either believe God’s Word or their imagination.
There have been men like Hitler, whose love for his race and hatred for other races and passion to destroy or enslave others brought about wars. When those men died, the world was relieved.
There have been others who’ve loved all men and hated all manner of enslavement. Their passion was to spread the Gospel of Christ. When they died the world mourned.
But all these, were molded by other men’s ideals. The mantle was passed to them, and they became the next one in line responsible for keeping their cause alive.
These men received their light and lit their candle from other men’s lanterns and took that light to the world.
Sadly, each succeeding generation of Christians are far less passionate, enthused, or excited about the things of God than the preceding generation. Much about biblical Christianity is being lost in the transition.
Jews were told to pass on orally to the children all the mighty works of God that He had done for Israel as well as His commandments. (Deuteronomy 11: 18) Timothy’s mother Eunice, and grandmother Lois passed on to him the truth of the gospel. (2 Timothy 1: 5) Paul passed on to Timothy the deeper truths of the gospel and told Timothy to do it. (2 Timothy 2: 2) Regardless of how noble our cause or how passionate we are about it, it can die with us.
A.W. Tozer said, “We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past.”
Today we must first revive that noble concept of God in our own hearts and our churches before we can pass it on.
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.com
