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Passing the Baton of Truth

From Anne

Almost every weekend during the spring months, my husband, Danny, would take our three young children to watch the track-and-field events at the University of North Carolina, which was his alma mater. 

One of their favorite events was the four-by-one-hundred-meter relay race, in which four runners compete as a team, each running a lap around the track before passing a baton to his teammate, who continues running at full speed ahead of him. 

Winning a relay race depends not only on the speed of the runners but also on each team member’s ability to transfer the baton. If the baton is dropped or even bobbled, precious seconds are wasted, and the race may be lost.

You and I are in a race called life. The Baton is Truth that leads to faith in Jesus Christ. Each generation receives the Baton from the previous generation, runs the race to the best of its ability, then is responsible for passing it to the next generation. 

Passing the Baton of Truth traces all the way back to the first generation of humanity. Following Adam and Eve’s disobedience, when sin entered the human race, each person faced the decision of whether to seek a right relationship with God or pursue his or her own selfish desires.

In Genesis 5, we find a genealogy that lists ten generations and reveals the passing of the Baton from one to the next. Amid the wickedness of Cain’s civilization, these ten men stood out like giants surrounded by spiritual dwarfs. Like a ten-man relay team, each received the Baton of Truth from the one who had preceded him, then grasped it for himself, running his own race with diligence and perseverance, regardless of his wicked surroundings.

As parents, grandparents, and mentors, we must strive to be giants among spiritual dwarfs relaying to the next generation the Baton of Truth that leads to personal faith in Jesus Christ. 

In order to be successful, it’s imperative that we be genuine Jesus Followers ourselves. In this devotional, my daughter, Rachel-Ruth, offers a story from our family for each segment in the race of life: our witness, our worship, our walk, and our work. Our hope is to encourage you to be intentional as you, too, seek to be a Jesus Follower who successfully passes the Baton to the next generation.

What are the names of people in the next generation to who you would like to intentionally pass the Baton of Truth?