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Viewpoint from Rev Leda Schofield 04/04/2014
 Rev Leda Schofield
Associate Pastor, Park Baptist Church
What Do These Stones Mean?
Parents often think about their children’s future. They ask what is the best thing they can leave them in terms of resources for life, so that once they have gone, their children will thrive. Some think that the best thing they can leave them is a good education, and they strive to ensure their children get this. Others think that the best thing they can leave their children is a good bank account, and they work as much as they can, for as long as they can, to make sure they leave good financial resources to their children
God also thinks about us His children. There is an episode in the Bible, when the Israelites had just finished crossing the Jordan by the Lord’s mighty hand, when the Lord commanded Joshua with these words: “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight” Joshua 4:3
According to God, the reason for this command was:
“... to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off ... These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever” Joshua 4:6,7
In other words, when asked in the future by their children about the significance of these twelve stones, the people should be able to explain that the stones were a sign, a memorial, drawing attention to the wonderful way that the Lord had saved them, parting the waters of the Jordan
As we think about the present and future generations, we may ask ourselves, what in terms of spiritual resources, will we leave them, which will point these generations to God? We can apply this picture from Joshua in a number of ways. We leave ‘memorial stones’ when we pass on the good news of the greatest act of deliverance God ever performed, when God became man and lived among us, for our salvation. We leave ‘memorial stones’ when we allow God to do deeds of love and kindness through us that point future generations to the reality of God. In brief, by passing on our faith to this generation, we are leaving them ‘memorials stones’, which will point them to the great God we serve
So when our children/this generation ask us, ‘what do these stones mean?’ Let us explain to them about our faith in God, what a wonderful God we have, and about the good the Lord has done for us. This is the best resource we can leave for this generation
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