1.7.21 世代之約 The Covenant for Generations

創世記 17:⁹ 　神又對亞伯拉罕說：「你和你的後裔一定要世世代代遵守我的約。“

Genesis 17:⁹ And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 

當上帝與亞伯拉罕立約時，他的意思是要亞伯拉罕和他的後裔一定要世世代代遵守神的約。 上帝要成為亞伯拉罕，以撒和雅各的上帝。 上帝也希望成為我們孩子的上帝。 不幸的是，許多基督徒沒有看到這一點：我們身為的父母常常忙於我們的工作，甚至是教會的活動，以至於將自己的孩子給世界擄去。 教會本身也需要著重於裝備父母承擔責任，而不是單為孩子提供保姆和社交活動。 COVID-19是上帝向教會和父母傳達信息，那就是停止單單提供活動，而”迫使”父母將神的約在家裡傳給下一代。 正如Dietrich Bonhoeffer 潘霍華所說：“義人是為下一代而活的人”。 教會和父母要急起直追，盡一切努力，在世界將我們的孩子擄去之前，將神的約傳給我們的下一代！

When God made a covenant with Abraham, He meant for that covenant to be kept with Abraham’s “offspring after [him] throughout their generations.” God desired to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God desires to be the God of our children as well. Unfortunately many Christians fail to see this: we parents are often so busy with our work and even church programs that we sacrifice our children to the world. Churches themselves also need to directly focus on equipping parents to take on their responsibility instead of providing babysitting and social activities for their children. COVID-19 is God’s message to our churches is to stop simply running programs and rather to compel parents to pass the covenant onto our next generation. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The righteous man is the one who lives for the next generation”. It is long overdue for our churches and parents to put all our efforts towards passing the covenant onto our next generation before the world takes them!