When I was about eleven years old, I loved Junior Church. It was for elementary school kids and I was on our little singing team. We had a pretty girl from high school come early each week and play through songs on the piano with us that we would lead everyone in during the service. One song I loved to sing was called, Pass It On. I think the reason I loved it was because the alto part was easy to hear and I felt like big stuff throwing in some harmony.
PASS IT ON, Kurt Kaiser
It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
That’s how it is with God’s Love, Once you’ve experienced it,
Your spread the love to everyone. You want to pass it on.
What a wonderous time is spring,
When all the tress are budding
The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
That’s how it is with God’s love, Once you’ve experienced it.
You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring, You want to pass it on.
I wish for you my friend, this happiness that I’ve found;
You can depend on God. It matters not where you’re bound,
I’ll shout it from the mountain top – PRAISE GOD!
I want the world to know
The Lord of love has come to me . I want to pass it on.
Lately I’ve been pondering the importance of “Passing it On”.
Right now I am in the Old Testament book, Deuteronomy. It is a reminder to Israel of all God had done and what God expects of them as they go forward. The name Deuteronomy means “second law” and in this book Moses gives Israel not a second law but “the Law” for the second time. The book is actually a collection of sermons written by Moses to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land.
But why? Didn’t Israel just live it? Why feel the need to recap on all they had just gone through? Looking back and remembering is always helpful but there was another important matter. Deuteronomy was written for those who would come after. It was written for generations that would follow.
The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. But, looking at a map, the trip could have only taken them 11 days! So it’s easy to overlook that while the Israelites wandered, another generation was being birthed and raised in the wilderness.
We find as we read Deuteronomy that those entering the Promised Land were not there to witness first hand the parting of the Red Sea and other amazing acts of God’s provision and protection.
That’s fascinating to me. All the faith building, all the teaching God did with His people, how would it be passed on?
So the book of Deuteronomy takes on new importance when we see that it is for the purpose of passing on the truth of God’s power and His laws. In fact, Moses charges Israel to teach their children of God and His ways.
4“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The lyrics of the song run through my mind…”You want to pass it on.”
Last fall we began LifeGroups and usually the adults will fellowship in the living room while the kids hang out in the basement. I remember one evening my son Hudson came up to get a drink. He quietly opened the door while Mark was sharing. Mark was telling an amazing story about how God had provided for our family while we traveled on the road with our singing ministry and how it built our faith in Him. Hudson would’ve been just a baby at the time. He was there with us but certainly unaware of the miraculous thing God did.
I wasn’t paying much attention to Hudson entering the room but when I looked again he had leaned up against the door and was listening intently. The next thing I know, he’s sitting in a chair totally engrossed in Mark’s story. I thought to myself, this story must be just as new to Hudson as it is to those here who’ve never heard it.
All along, since we encountered it as a family, I just never thought I would need to tell him about it some day. I wondered to myself how many stories we have neglected to pass on to them. I realized that night the importance of teaching our children of God’s faithfulness through His intimate interaction in our lives.
“I want to pass it on.”
Sunday morning our family pastor, Kent, shared a message from God’s word and in it he said something like this, “Because of the disciples’ obedience we, now in our day, have access to the gospel.”
The idea of it struck me. How remarkable! I felt a deep sense of gratitude for their willingness to carry the message to the ends of the earth. I mean, that’s how it happened. That is why we now can know and hear the wonderful words of life.
18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Another thing Kent said that stuck with me is, “You will encounter people who know you are a Christ follower. Perhaps they don’t know much about Jesus. What they see in your life will be their understanding of who He is. What is your life expressing to others about who Jesus is? How much power does your Jesus have?
What are you passing on?
How will my children, my loved ones, my friends, my neighbors learn of the gospel if I don’t tell them?
How will they hear of God’s personal faithfulness in my life if I don’t share my stories with them?
How will they believe that God wants a personal relationship with us if I’m not experiencing it and living it out before them?
Yes, I’ve been pondering. “Am I passing it on?”
It’s so important for you, for me, for all of us, those transformed by the Gospel, walking with Jesus, to pass it on.
admin - Karen, thank you so much for sharing! What a great idea, the sign on your dining room table. I’m going to pray that God helps me to recall to mind His many faithful acts in our lives at opportune times for me to pass them on to our children. And you’re right, we can all share our story!
Karen Dekker - Great thoughts, Tammy! Even if we don’t have a fancy evangelistic message to share, we can share our story — that is, what God has done and is doing in each of our individual lives. We can testify to God’s goodness and faithfulness by sharing how He is at work in our lives. Maybe that’s our salvation story, or maybe it’s a story about how God was faithful in a particular situation. Kent’s sermon and your story have prompted me to make a sign that sits on my dining room table that says, “Share a story of how God is working in your life this week”, and 1 Thessalonians 5:11 at the bottom, “…Encourage one another and build one another up…”.