1 Kings 2:33
“Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon
the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and
upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from
the LORD.”
Solomon made a dangerous mistake that many second generation Christians and ministry leaders make. He said in the verse above, “…but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.” There is almost a sense of disdain for battles in this statement.
Solomon felt that if he corrected everything that he perceived that his father did wrong, he would be able to keep peace in Israel and that they would not have to fight the battles that his father fought. There seems to be in Solomon’s statement a bit of loathing of the battles that his father fought. It was as if he felt he could do things differently from his father as if David did everything wrong. Whether or not this was Solomon’s agenda, it is clearly seen in his life that he didn’t want to fight battles, and it eventually cost him the unity of the kingdom.
One thing that second generation Christians must guard against is the thinking that they can correct what their fathers have done. This is a dangerous idealism. The fact that the focus is on peace is what makes it so dangerous. Peace at all cost is dangerous idealism; it the seedling of compromise. There is nothing wrong with desiring peace, but that must not be your focus. Your focus must be on truth and teaching it. When you keep your focus on truth, compromise will not be an option. Let me share a few thoughts concerning this dangerous idealism.
First, the battles of the previous generation are what gave you the peace you enjoy today. Many loathe the battles of the previous generation, but those battles are what allowed them to give you an untainted truth. Certainly, the battles of the previous generation were not pleasant, but they had to be done so that they could pass on to your generation the truth that they received from the previous generation.
Second, peace without battles is unrealistic. The only way you will have peace is by beating down evil and false doctrine. If you think you can have peace without fighting a battle, you are living in an unrealistic world. Peace is the result of winning a battle. Battles must be fought for peace to be enjoyed. Living to correct how the previous generation fought battles for truth will only lead to changing truth to avoid those battles, which results in compromised truth being handed to the next generation.
Third, every generation will have to fight battles. Truth will always be attacked; therefore, someone must fight the attacks against truth so that the lies of compromisers are not embraced as truth. It is dangerous idealism to think that you no longer have to fight battles for truth because the previous generation fought those battles. If you are a student of history, you will see that every generation tends to fight the same battles for truth. Satan isn’t going to sit idly by and let truth continue. He is going to fight it in every generation. The battles your fathers had to fight will eventually come to your doorstep.
Friend, don’t fall for Satan’s trap that peace must be your focus. Always remember that truth must be your focus. If truth is your focus, you will have to fight battles, but you will give the next generation the unchanging faith that was handed to you.