Judges 2:10 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.
In one of our outreaches, I was privileged to preach to an old man. I won't be wrong to say he was close to death because he was frail and had lost his sight. This man listened to the gospel with rapt attention. He was willing to give his life to Christ but he asked if accepting Christ will permit him to continue in ancestral worship. We told him it is impossible. He told us that the idol in his custody was handed down to him by his parents and that he must hand same over to his son. Ancestral worship was a legacy of some sort in his family.
He doesn't want idol worship to become extinct in his family. His concern was about posterity. Even though I wasn't happy about his refusal to accept Jesus, I picked a lesson from that encounter. We can pass on a legacy of faith in Christ to the next generation. Talking about Timothy, Paul said, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also", 2Tim1:5. We are not saying salvation can be passed down to children like a property. What we mean is that we can train them in the way of Lord.
Europe has become a post Christian continent. A generation was on fire for God to the extent that they sent missionaries to almost all the countries of the world. However, they failed to pass on the legacy of faith to the next generation. Their big cathedrals are now empty, they've become another relics of history. If an idol worshipper is futuristic in thinking so that his idol worship can continue, how much more those of us that profess the true faith.
Father, I will not fail in this regard in Jesus name.