When you’re building a house, the most important time is not when you put on the roof or paint the walls or decorate the rooms. The most important time is when you lay the foundation and put in the wiring, the plumbing, and all those other important features of the house that will support everything yet to come.
In the same way, the most important time in life is at the beginning, in the time of our youth, when the foundation is being laid. It’s when we’re developing our habits and forming our attitudes.
It’s during our youth that we make decisions on things like careers and marriage that affect us for the rest of our lives. We sow seeds that we’ll reap in the years ahead.
That’s why we’ve always had an emphasis on reaching out to each new generation on our church campuses and through our evangelistic events.
When we started Harvest Christian Fellowship, we were a church of young people. But times have changed. Our kids have grown up. And now they have kids.
Time is passing on, and that is fine. But I’m not interested in living in the past. I’m interested in what God is doing today and what he will do tomorrow. I’m interested in pressing forward and reaching new people.
However, it doesn’t mean that in the process we should neglect people who have faithfully attended over the years and are growing old with us. Nor does it mean that we stray from the ways of the Lord to which we’ve committed ourselves. But we do want to continue to reach the next generation.
If we can give our kids the message of the gospel so they’ll turn their lives around and lay a proper foundation, then they will be the leaders of tomorrow.
This article originally appeared on Harvest.org and is reposted here by permission.