Many families hand down special keepsakes from those who’ve gone before them—a small piece of jewelry, a china plate, a favorite book. I have several such meaningful treasures, but not as many as my mum kept safely in a china cabinet. Among her collection, one vase in particular was clearly very special to her. Every spring she would take it out of the cabinet and wash it gently in a basin of warm soapy water before drying it and placing it back on display. Then she would say the same words I had heard her say during this ritual since I was a very small girl: “This vase has been passed down from generation to generation.”
That vase fascinated me, so one day—even though I could see it just fine where it was—I decided I needed a closer look. I’d heard that the finest bone china is almost translucent when held up to the light. So I very carefully took the vase out of the cabinet and held it up to the light that was streaming through the window. “So beautiful,” I said quietly to myself, but before the words had left my lips, the vase slipped through my fingers and shattered into a hundred pieces all over the living room carpet.
“I will need to leave home,” I decided, but because I was only thirteen, my chance of survival wasn’t promising. That meant I had no other option: I had to own it.
“Mum,” I began, my heart in the pit of my stomach, “you know the vase that’s been passed down from generation to generation?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Well . . . this generation just dropped it!”
As silly as it sounds, that statement has stayed with me through the years, and more recently it has become a passionate prayer. I don’t want us to be the generation that dropped it!
You and I are living in dark days. News from overseas becomes more troubling by the day, and within our own borders our basic rights as followers of Christ are being eroded bit by bit. But when we feel pressure to conform to ideas that are contrary to our faith, we can find ourselves tempted to sit quietly and wait for Christ to come rescue us.
I, however, don’t want to be a silent observer of the demise of Christianity. I want to live my faith boldly—not merely with trite bumper-sticker phrases, T-shirt slogans, or easily dismissed clichés but with love, mercy, and grace that point people to Jesus.
So what can we do to stand strong in our faith and not drop the assignment God has given us? The greatest resource we have is God’s power made available to us through both the Holy Spirit living within us and the written Word of God.
God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, but it’s of no use if we can’t remember where we put it.
Five Minutes in the Word 
Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14 ESV
The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:13–17 ESV
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105