SEARCHLIGHT
Does your family history have to dictate your future? Can you be generationally cursed?
SCRIPTURE
“THEREFORE, YOU ISRAELITES, I WILL JUDGE EACH OF YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN WAYS, DECLARES THE SOVEREIGN LORD. REPENT! TURN FROM ALL YOUR OFFENSES; THEN SIN WILL NOT BE YOUR DOWNFALL. RID YOURSELVES OF ALL THE OFFENSES YOU HAVE COMMITTED, AND GET A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT. WHY WILL YOU DIE, PEOPLE OF ISRAEL? FOR I TAKE NO PLEASURE IN THE DEATH OF ANYONE, DECLARES THE SOVEREIGN LORD. REPENT AND LIVE!" EZEKIAL 18:30-32 NIV.
SPOTLIGHT
There are too many people who are imprisoned by their heritage. They believe it is impossible to get out of the pit their relatives have handed them. Their parents lived a dark and seedy, sinful lifestyle. As children, they now believe they are bound to live the same horrible way because there is no way out. Their parents and grandparents dug the hole which is too deep to escape. They must suffer the sins of their parents. Some may feel their destiny is locked in because the Ten Commandments state, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them: for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” [Exodus 20:5.]
Ezekiel disagreed with this negative, fatalistic approach to life. Two times he repeated a truth that God gave him. In God’s eyes, people are individuals. God treats you as a person. He holds you responsible for your own sin. You are not judged by your parent’s sin. God looks at your heart, not your parents. [Ezekiel 18:4,20.]
It its undeniable that parental sins impact the lives of their children. God punished the nation of Israel, and they walked for 40 years in the wilderness. The children of those rebellious, sinful parents had to walk with them. However, they got to go into the Promised Land. You do not share the guilt from one generation to the next. You may experience some of the consequences of the previous generation’s sin’s, but the chain of sin can be broken.
Just because you have rebellious, ungodly parents, you do not have to follow in their footsteps. You do not have to be a chip off the old block. You do not have to be the apple that does not fall from the tree. Every soul, whether it is a man, woman or child, is accountable to God for his/her sin. You have to stand before God by yourself and give an account.
No longer do you have to continue in the sinful ways of your heritage. Your family does not have to be an alcoholic family. God can break the verbal and physical abuse habits. You do not have to be a gambler. By God’s grace, you no longer have to remain chained to substances such as heroin, cocaine, opioids and nicotine, that you saw destroy your parent’s life.
Just in case you doubt or disagree with this truth that God treats you as an individual, Ezekiel said that anyone could have a new heart and spirit. See the above Scripture passage. And when you decide to break the chain and change, God is so pleased with you because He never wanted you to die. [Ezekiel 18:23.]
God looks at your soul as you stand before Him. He is merciful and takes no pleasure in your death. He does not see your parents. If you live for Jesus, you are forgiven and redeemed. If you live a sinful life, you will be guilty as charged. Your heritage does not condemn you. Your social upbringing does not confine you. Only your personal sin holds you back from God’s blessing. And all that sin is forgiven when you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. God longs for you and every person in the world to live a repentant, blessed life. He does not want anyone to perish. [1 Timothy 2:4: 2 Peter 3:9.]
You can change! You do not have to inherit the horrific lifestyle of your parents. Through God’s forgiveness, love and power, you can be the new person who begins the new generation. No generational curses from this time forward. Turn your back on sinful ways. Walk away from your family’s rebellious lifestyle. Just don’t try to turn over a new leaf. Turn to Jesus. Face up to your wrongs. Focus on Jesus who died for your sin. Ask Him to forgive and purify. Get a new heart and spirit. Then begin really living.
SOMETHING TO DO
Who do you know who is imprisoned by their past? Pray and ponder as to how you can share this good news so they can be free from, “generational curses.”
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Thank You Heavenly Father, for being so full of mercy that You see me as an individual. Thank You, that I can stand before You, clean and free from the sin of my past generations. Because of Your Son and my Savior, I have a new heart and a new spirit. AMEN!