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By: Pastor Schlicht

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” This sentence is one of the most famous quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a 20th-century Lutheran pastor and theologian, who died taking his stand against Nazism…except I don’t know if he actually wrote it. I was going to use the quote as part of a lesson included with a Bible study and wanted to cite his specific work. I Googled the quote to see if anyone had cited the source. The quote turned up on a number of websites, all attributing it to Bonhoeffer but none giving the source. A search in Google Books turned up nothing, so I gave up on it, puzzled. But during the course of reading his Letters and Papers From Prison, I came across this, “The question of ultimate responsibility is not how I might extricate myself heroically from the situation but how the coming generation is to live.” (p.7)

Could these be the words from which the more popular quote above was derived? The actual words of Bonhoeffer are certainly a related idea to the first quote, which seems to have been sanitized and shortened. (Focusing on society at large is much easier than looking at personal responsibility.) Bonhoeffer’s real statement concentrates on the life of a Christian and speaks not of ultimate tests, but of ultimate responsibility. Bonhoeffer argues that God has not asked us to be heroic or successful, but to carry out our responsibility to coming generations, specifically in light of Christ’s love and promises.

In our Western world, we tend to think about the here and now. It’s so much about careers, achievements, personal health, and personal pursuits. If marriage and kids are part of the picture—we think about our children and perhaps grandchildren, but not much farther. And if you aren’t married and don’t have kids, you may not think about your personal responsibility to the coming generation at all. (I know I didn’t think about it before I had children much.)

But just consider, if you will, how a single Christian’s example of faith could affect the coming generations. Think about how desperately your younger colleagues, your little cousin, or your neighbor’s kids need to see you speaking and acting like a Christian. You may be the only Christian influence they ever have. Will your love stand out? Will you come to church and, without saying a word, encourage children to see that worship is not only for families or older couples? Is adoption an option for you? (Is it really so crazy? A single Christian can make a beautiful home for an orphan.) Now, I’ve applied this to just one demographic, but I would ask anyone reading this—single or not, young or old, kids or no kids—to consider what your personal responsibility might be to how the coming generations will live in faith.

This summer I’ve seen our congregation come together in some special ways for the sake of our youth. We had generous donations and willing chaperones for the Youth Rally in Tennessee. We had a wonderful week with just under 100 children learning about God’s oceans at our Science Camp. We have some college kids attending my Bible study on mental health at the beginning of this month. We even have an Early Childhood, Pre-K, and K-8th grade Christian elementary school at Eastside. Certainly, we’re already doing many things which highlight the ultimate responsibility of passing on the Christian faith as a church, but perhaps that’s why we need to consider the personal responsibility of the Christian individual all the more.

Many young people are leaving churches in America and many more are growing up with simply no connection to Jesus. Our responsibility isn’t to panic and doubt God. Nor is it to sigh and shake our heads at the times. Our responsibility is to love God and love people enough to show them their Good Shepherd. God hasn’t called you to be a hero. (Did you hear that moms and dads?) He has called you to order your life in such a way that Christ’s love flows from you to the coming generations. It might be something big and important, but more likely it will be a lot of little, daily, rather ordinary things which make a big difference over time—like a stream that wears a stone smooth. Don’t estimate the importance of your actions on worldly standards. God can turn a mustard seed into a large tree and you can pass on eternal blessings to souls you will never know on earth.

I have this snapshot in my memory of my mother reading her Bible over a cup of coffee, something that greeted me most mornings before school. It wasn’t a big thing. It wasn’t being a hero. However, it was a conscious choice to read her Bible at the kitchen table. What will that choice look like for you? If it is even one small thing, consider it your meaningful and joyful responsibility to carry it out for the sake of Christ and the coming generations.

He commanded our ancestors to teach their children,

  so the next generation would know,

    even the children yet to be born,

    and they in turn would tell their children.

Then they would put their trust in God.

Psalm 78:5-7

Even when I am old and gray,

    do not forsake me, my God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Psalm 71:18