God’s Plan for this Generation

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Army Captain John Miller takes his men behind enemy lines on a hard-fought and dangerous mission to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. The orders are to see to the safe return of Ryan to his grieving mother before she suffers the loss of her only remaining son.

On a bridge at the end of the final battle, Captain Miller sits dying. He has completed his mission, however, and has seen to it that Private Ryan can go home. Ryan looks at Miller and explains that tank busters have come and that the battle has been won.

Captain Miller, with his dying words, pulls Private Ryan close and says with his last breath, "Earn this. Earn it." He means for James to realize that many men died to set him free, so he has an obligation to do something meaningful with his life.

As Ryan looks over the captain, in a voiceover we hear the words of the army chief-of-staff in a letter to Mrs. Ryan consoling her on the death of her three sons, but also telling her of her one surviving son's valor and his soon return home. He quotes the prayer of Abraham Lincoln, that God would lessen her grief and remember her boys with honor, and that the country is grateful for her sacrifice.

On this Memorial Day, as we remember those who have fallen in service to our nation, we are reminded that we too have a duty to perform. We owe a great debt to those who have sacrificed and given “the last full measure of devotion,” to those who have purchased for us an opportunity to live well on their behalf.

But not all battles are fought with physical weapons on foreign soil. Most battles are moral, ethical, and spiritual in nature and there is no battlefield more important to occupy and hold than the Christian home. We find our help in these battles throughout the Bible, and one of the best places is Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25.

In this passage, Moses repeats God’s ongoing covenant with Israel to a new generation and gives specific instructions for them to practice and teach to their children. God expects his people in each new generation to give him absolute and exclusive devotion in all aspects of life. He doesn’t want to be just the first in our lives, he wants to be the only.

I want you to hear God speaking to you in your generation his charge to make God the driving force of your life. Israel needed to hear its covenant with God repeated so the law could be reinterpreted and applied to the needs of each new generation. We need to hear God in our generation as well because the home is battling for its life today. People are searching for fulfillment outside the home because their homes are unstable, lacking the foundation of principles that will guide the affairs of a family.

Christian homes should be a place of spiritual strength. Deuteronomy 6:4 – 5 tells us that we are to found our families on love for God and a spiritual relationship to him. God loves us, and we return his love toward us obediently.

Christian homes should be a place for divine truth. All of the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the Lord are to be observed and taught to each generation. Verse 6 refers to the “words” that are so important, and verse 7 says that we are to “teach” them to our children. Not only is God to be loved and worshiped, but his words and commandments and faith are to be taught in our homes. At stake is the faith of the living God in the lives and homes of our nation.

Christian homes should be a place for demonstrating Christian character as seen in Ephesians 6:4, “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Such cCharacter development demands training and discipline and the Christian home provides it from infancy to maturity. Children need the security that discipline gives, and parents need the fulfillment that such leadership provides.

Christian homes should be a place for creative fellowship, where there is love and forgiveness and understanding. It is a place where patience and kindness and courtesy thrive. It is the place of warmth and oneness of spirit. It is the oasis of fellowship in a world that starves for someone to care.

God does have a plan for this generation and for your home if you will let him help you find it. If we respond to God’s charge as he calls to and leads our families in the light of his love and Word, we will experience the joy of God’s plan. But hearing is proven by doing. Not only are we to hear the charge for ourselves, we are to pass it on to the generations to follow through our words and deeds.

In the movie, after depicting the terribly tragic loss of Private Ryan’s rescuers, the scene changes to the present. James Ryan is now an old man standing in at the graveside of Captain Miller, where he confesses that he has thought every day of the charge that he laid upon him on that bridge.

"I've tried to live my life the best I could, Ryan said. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I've earned what all of you have done for me."

His wife approaches, and he asks her to tell him that he's lived a good life, "Tell me that I'm a good man." She replies, "You are." Then, as if having discharged his duty, he salutes Captain Miller's grave.

Each of us has to ask ourselves the same question. Jesus gave everything for us. He shed His blood that we might be forgiven our sins and someday live eternally with Him. We should live our lives in such a way that we do not have to come to the end and feel that anguish of having wasted a life that Jesus thought was so valuable that He gave His own to save it. And though we can never earn it, we can confess that we remember it, and allow it to be the driving force of our lives.