The Generation Gap

The Generation Gap – The old and the young cannot or will not understand each other.

How do we tackle the problem of the Generation Gap?

Do we seek our answer with the adult generation? – By demanding that young people comply with their parents

Do we seek our answer with the youth culture? – By demanding that adults embrace the attitude of their children

Neither of these alternatives gets to the root of the problem. There is, however, a third alternative. We can take the problem to Jesus.

In my own experience, the Generation Gap has never been a great problem. Why? – Because the problem was taken to Jesus.

As I entered the years of adolescence and early adulthood, I committed my life to Jesus Christ.On the same night, my father also committed his life to Jesus Christ.

I was fifteen. He was forty. It looked like the perfect situation for a generation gap. The generation gap never quite developed.

Why? – Because we both found the perfect solution: Jesus.

In Jesus Christ, there is neither young nor old. The real spiritual relationship is not the father-son relationship. It’s the relationship of being brothers in Christ. In God’s family, we are all sons, and none of us is a Father. We are all children of God, and He alone is our Father.

When we understand this, the father will not demand that the son be just like him, and the son will not demand that the father become a youngster like him. Both will share a common goal – to be like Christ, the perfect Son of God our Father.

Rather than speaking of the “Generation Gap”, we should speak of the “Jesus Generation.”

In John 4:43-54, we see a generation problem, a problem involving a father and his son. It is not, however, the problem of a generation gap. There is no hint of a generation gap.

It is a problem for both the father and his son. It is a problem that neither of them could solve. It is a problem which is taken to Jesus.

We are not told precisely what age the son was. We’re not told exactly what his illness was. We’re told that the problem was taken to Dr. Jesus.

Each of us suffers from a spiritual illness – sin, and we must go to Dr. Jesus for His remedy.

What was Jesus’ remedy?

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”

Jesus says, “Go, your son will live” (John 4:50a). “The man believed Jesus’ words and went” (John 4:50b).

The man trusted and obeyed. Then, when the man trusted and obeyed, came the blessing, the healing.

Within families, there  is always the possibility of the development of a generation gap. This generation gap becomes a real problem when another gap has not been bridged – the gap between man and God.

No matter what side of the generation gap you may be on, remember this: we are all, by nature, on the wrong side of the gap between man and God. There is, however, something else that we must never forget: Jesus has bridged the gap between man and God.