Passing your children the baton of faith in the relay of life is not an easy task. In a relay race, each runner has a specific set distance to run. During the hand off, each runner must be “in the exchange zone.” This is a very precise hand off that can make or break a team’s chance at the gold.
Sometimes, what looks like it should be a slam-dunk win, ends up being an epic fail. In the 2024 Olympics, the US men’s 100m relay team was disqualified for an illegal baton exchange in the race, when the couldn’t get the baton pass in the exchange zone. In a relay, the baton exchange is almost more important than how fast you can run. A bad exchange can slow down the runners at best, and completely put them out of the race at the worst.
We are called to pass our faith onto our children. The faith hand off has so many elements to its success. One thing that many Christian parents are relying on more than ever is Christian schooling or home schooling. While both of these methods of education can be extremely effective, they are only as good as the interpersonal parent/child faith hand off.
In the book of Joshua, we see what we could call Israel’s “greatest generation.” They were young (all under 40 years old) when they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They had survived the difficulties of the wilderness, were fed with manna, and watched other people fall under the judgement of the Lord. They had a healthy fear of God, and they were refined by the fires of their suffering in the wilderness. They handily took the Promised Land with jaw-dropping, miraculous battles.
However, after that generation passed on into eternity, the scripture says the next generation rose up who did not know the Lord. How was the baton dropped so easily? Let’s read!
Judges 2:6-23 “After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.”
This account is a reminder of how quickly the one generation to the next baton pass can go wrong. The newer generation was born in the Promised Land that their ancestors waited for and fought for. All the next generation knew was comfort and the amazing protection of the Lord. They lived in peace and served the Lord. It’s easy for a generation that is raised in wealth, health and safety to assume that they live in such opulence because of their own ingenuity, financial savvy and industriousness. There is a natural pride that human beings fall into, when we haven’t walked through difficulty. It is easy to forget God, when you haven’t been in a battle where you completely needed the Lord to deliver you from the evil.
I can picture the next Israelite generation being “drawn” into the pagan customs of the surrounding nations. The pagan religions were sexual in nature and I am sure that (since there is nothing new under the sun) they wanted to do something “cool” or “popular” with the nations they lived among.
This cycle of generational walking with the Lord, falling away, and coming into judgement happened in a very chill way. This passage seems to imply that most Israelites seemed to love the sin and that they ignored the warnings of the judges as “extreme” or “ridiculous.”
God lifted his hand of protection. He allowed trials and oppressions of many types, in order to draw the people back to him. When you read the book of Judges through, you will see quickly that the people of God are fickle and do not learn from their lessons for more than a generation.
When I was in high school, I remember the message from a speaker at a ski retreat I attended. The speaker challenged us with Psalm 1. He talked about the tendency of each generation to get more lukewarm than the generation before. He pointed out the “statures” in Psalm 1. They go from walking to standing to sitting.
Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
That youth pastor challenged us to not be the generation who drops the baton or loses the faith. I took that challenge seriously. His challenge still stays with me to this day, as I am about to become a grandmother.
It’s easy to dismiss the ways of generations gone by as “old fashioned” or “out dated.” It is a spirit of pride that dismisses the past, instead of learning from it. It is very tempting to see technological and scientific advancement and to believe the lie that we don’t need these “ancient” beliefs anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more we move away from the ancient truths, the more we see the darkness and evil increasing.
As a parent, I have made the youth pastor’s challenge to my children. I said, “Do not be the generation who drops the baton of the Lord. Carry it with strength!” As parents, we are responsible for 2 components: physically modeling the truth and actually speaking the truth.
In a relay race, you run forward, while calling to the person in front of you. A baton exchange involves both generations. Both are looking forward, eyes fixed in the direction of the goal. The one handing off the baton speaks out commands to the other runner, so they can know that the hand off is coming, without looking back. We must keep moving forward while calling out truth.
We cannot simply model the truth without teaching our children spiritually. We also cannot speak without action. Both forms are ineffective in correctly passing the truth to our children. We need words and actions together.
For example, do we talk about forgiving, but model bitterness and resentment for our children to see? Do we talk about praying without actually praying WITH our children? Do we talk about purity and watch movies with sexual content? Do we teach our children to tell the truth, but model lying to others to look good?
Our children will be running forward into difficult times that we have not walked in. Yet, the timeless truths of the gospel will never get old. The truth of Jesus Christ will carry every generation until the return of Christ. Do not make the mistake of telling your children that with new cultures the truths in the Bible can become outdated. The Bible has carried our ancestors through the process of overcoming many things including dire persecution, the rising and falling of Empires and sins like the slave trade.
The same truths of Jesus will sustain us and give us victory.
I want to also say this. You can do everything in your power to hand off the baton to your children, and they can still fall into sin or go astray. In those moments, you can do several things:
- Ask God to show you if there is any way you sinned against your child that you need to apologize for. There may be nothing. But if there is, you need to apologize and ask for forgiveness.
- Ask the Lord how to pray for your child. Only he can reveal what is actually going on.
- Do not assume that since your child is an adult that you have lost all influence and authority over them. In the spirit realm, fathers and mothers have strong influence over their children. What you pray for them and what you speak over them has power.
- Do not assume that since your child is an adult you cannot speak anything into their lives. If you are respectful, loving and wait for a “God moment” you can and should speak into your adult children’s lives. It should be done with respect and grace.
- In times when you are estranged, ask God for ways you can show love. Do not allow bitterness to enter in and defile you. Forgive as Christ has forgiven you. There are times when some children walk away that all you can do is pray and fast and forgive. But, do not confuse these extreme times with times when you still can actually lovingly give direction.
Prayer Point-
Father, in Jesus’ name, I pray today that you will give me hope to pray for my children, as I pass the baton to them. I ask that you show me what each of my children and grandchildren need from me to help them get a good grip on the baton of faith. Lord, I love my children and grandchildren. Please have mercy on my family and keep my children securely in the faith. I pray that they will hunger and thirst for righteousness. I pray that you will lead them not into temptation, but deliver them from the evil one.
Lord, instruct my heart. Are there any ways in me that are causing my children to not want to follow the Lord? Am I modeling truth? Am I speaking enough truth into my children’s lives? Is there anything I need to ask forgiveness for? What stumbling blocks (if any) did we the parents put in the way of our children’s faith? How can we remove these stumbling blocks?
Please give me opportunities to have “teachable moments” with my children. Open their hearts to your truth and hearing the truth, that they will be set free.
Lord, I pray that my children’s hearts will be open to the truth. Give them sensitivity to your Spirit. Convict them of sin. Call them to truth. Bring godly friends into their lives to run the race with them. I pray that my children will hear the truth, obey it and be set free.
Lord, dismantle Satan’s plans to destroy my children. Forgive their sins and bring them into the truth. May my children always walk with you.
Please, Lord, give me great baton hand-offs with each of my children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Revealed Ministries 