“In my day,” the grumpy old man begins, and the young people tune out. This inability for young people and old people to relate is commonly referred to as the “generation gap.”

We take this idea for granted—ever since the song “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” topped the charts in 1955 and became the anthem for youth revolt at the time. That song is now older than some of your grandparents, and therefore this idea has become entrenched in our thinking: that parents and children are supposedly designed and destined to have drastically different interests and tastes.

We assume there is nothing to be done about this generation gap. Children are destined to grow up liking music, entertainment and fashion that parents will dismiss or despise. And parents’ tastes—the children are told—can never be up to speed with the social landscape’s latest developments. Technological advancements also make us despise the bygone days of those who don’t have it as easy as we do; and even now, those advancements are making it far easier to circumvent the authority of grown-ups in our lives.

This idea is relatively young in the grand scheme of history though. It will also be short-lived. Zechariah describes a utopian future world after the return of the Messiah where the extreme age brackets of the community will find much common ground while socializing in the city streets: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zechariah 8:4-5).

The end time just before that—though marked by this generation gap—would also see a godly figure who would “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6).

This end-time man of God followed God’s pattern for working with and nurturing young people. That pattern is found throughout the Bible: The Prophet Samuel, his mother Hannah, the prophets Elijah, Elisha and Jeremiah all saw the importance of spending much of their life’s work educating the next generation.

When Jesus operated His earthly ministry, He emphasized the same principle, saying essentially that having the right attitude about young people is a matter of gaining eternal life in the Kingdom of God, or not. He instructed His disciples to “despise not” the youth (Matthew 18:10). Not long after, when people brought their infants and toddlers to Christ, the disciples harshly tried to turn these parents away. Christ was indignant (Mark 10:13-14) for He had already said: “Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me” (Mark 9:37).

These examples form the basis for how the Philadelphia Church of God works with its young people: all its youth activities, worldwide summer camps and its educational institutions.

Young people also have a responsibility in ensuring that there is no generation gap between them and their elders.

This is largely a matter of attitude: Don’t accept society’s lie that parents and teens just don’t get along. Don’t blindly go along with the crowd in assuming that your parents are already hard-wired to loathe the clothes you want to wear, or to not get the music you like.

Realize that parents are the greatest tools you have to combat the evil influences in this world. If you have the blessing of two loving parents—or even one—living under the same roof as you, you have a tremendous advantage when it comes to battling the bombardment of negative attitudes that permeate our society.

Perhaps the generation gap isn’t with the music you and your parents like. Maybe it is in other standards they set. It is often so easy to succumb to the thought that the standards they set are merely products of the time in which they lived. Oh, they think this is bad because back then people weren’t as open-minded as they are today. Though social norms do shift (I doubt “Rock Around the Clock” would be your anthem for revolting against the previous generation), there are certain standards that never shift.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord …” (Ephesians 6:1). As long as your parents are basing their principles on the Word of God—which never changes, regardless of societal fluctuations—you are bound to obey them. As long as what they ask of you doesn’t conflict with God’s law—which is as immutable as the law of gravity—you must heed them.

The book of Proverbs—which contains such timeless wisdom for young people—begins with an admonition to heed your parents (Proverbs 1:8). This keeps you safe: “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (verse 33).

That is, in fact, the promise associated with the Fifth Commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12).

Music and fashion tastes will likely continue to change, but it should never do so at the expense of your relationship with those who went before you.

Technology will also advance. I imagine that, even in that new world that Zechariah 8 describes, human ingenuity will continue. Technology may advance far beyond what we see and know today. But what it will not do is foster separation between the generations. Parents and children can discover new technologies together—parents keeping up with how their children’s world is changing, and children seeking guidance from their parents on how to use properly the new advancements.

You can begin to close the gap now. You can make it a thing of the past. You can help relegate it to a bygone era of history that happened “in my day ….”