A Great Responsibility

Just after I wrote my last blog post, I sat on the steps of the visitor center at Liberty University.  I looked out over the beautiful campus nestled in the hills of Virginia.  I listened to the Christian music that quietly played over the speakers throughout the campus and my eyes filled with tears.  I wanted to shout “Hooray!” for right before me lay a miracle, a Christian university with the motto, “Training Champions for Christ.”  Here students can study in all different fields and learn how to actively apply their Christian faith in their chosen occupations.

On those steps, I thanked God for this miracle:  a miracle that allows students to choose a Christian university and a miracle that two of my daughters study here.  I thanked God for the miracle of the availability of other Christian universities, universities like Cedarville in Ohio where another of my daughters studied and graduated.  I thanked God for the godly men and women who dedicate themselves to teach in these universities and I thanked Him for the Biblical values that are taught.  I prayed for the students, for the strength of their faith.  I prayed that they truly would be “Champions for Christ” taking God’s Word and truth out into the world that so desperately needs it.

I write this not to suggest that every Christian young person should attend a Christian university.  (My son studied and graduated from a state university.)  Rather, I write it as a reminder that God’s miraculous power is ever present all around us.  I have transported students to these two Christian universities for a total of five years now and this is the first time I realized it to be the miracle that it is.  The freedom to believe and practice our Christian faith abounds around us and yet, as I wrote in my last post, we often take it for granted.  It has become so common place, so unworthy of praise that my heart aches.

As I consider the multiple Christian opportunities around us – summer camps; teaching ministries; media sources – I feel the urge to break out in song and my mind is drawn back to the pages of The Insanity of God.  I think of the stories of the faithful believers in communist Russia, believers like Dmitri, who worshiped and sang Heart Songs while in prison for their faith.  Holy songs and Scripture were the lifeblood of the church under communism in countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe.  The believers did not own Bibles or hymnbooks, but they memorized Scripture and sang Holy songs.  When those believers were asked how they remained strong in their faith throughout such persecution, they answered, “We learned it from our mothers, our grandmothers, our great-grandmothers.  We learned it from our fathers, our grandfathers, our great-grandfathers.”

We have an awesome responsibility to pass on our faith to our children and grandchildren.  Therefore, let’s open our eyes to the miracles that surround us and give thanks to God who so graciously displays His miraculous power.  Let’s make Scripture and Holy Songs a priority in our homes and families and take advantage of the Christian opportunities around us.  Let’s make faith and praise a way of life.  May we live our lives in such a way that our children and grandchildren learn from us to stand firm in their faith no matter what obstacles stand in the way.