Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with
every spiritual blessing in Christ. For
he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight~ Ephesians 1:1-3 NIV
Last week I enjoyed a
long visit in the home of a very dear friend. One morning my friend was busy
with a project, and because I am an equal opportunity conversationalist I sat
in her cheery kitchen, sipped coffee, and caught up with her husband who is also
a good friend of mine.
At one point, the subject of our families came
up. He and I discovered long ago that we come from similar backgrounds and share
a great deal of experience with the sad topic of dysfunctional families.
I come from a very
long line of egocentric alcoholic fools who have chosen to give into rather
than fight their anger management issues. His family has had fewer issues with
anger and narcissism, but just as many problems with alcohol and other forms of
foolishness.
As we discussed the
current state of our families we somehow got started on the subject of
generational curses. We agreed that Exodus 20:5 is one of the most
misunderstood passages in all of Scripture.
It states in part…
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.
Some have erroneously
understood this verse to mean that God curses family lines willy-nilly with all
sorts of problematic behaviors and addictions simply because one member screws up.
The 18th chapter of Ezekiel clearly teaches that nothing could be
further from the truth.
The son will not share the guilt
of the Father, nor will the Father share the guilt of the son. The
righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him and the wickedness
of the wicked will be credited to him~ Ezekiel 18:20 NIV
Individuals are not
cursed by God but by their own decisions and choices.
People make personal, spiritual and behavioral
choices and those choices tend to be repeated by their children and their
children’s children. The long-term consequences of those chosen behaviors can
begin to look an awful lot like curses after a generation or two.
If we want lives free
from the curses that come from bad choices we must understand that no choice is
made in isolation. The decisions and choices we make every day have the power
to touch our families with either dysfunction or blessing. The dysfunction born
out of sinful choices can become so entrenched that the effects of those
choices can linger for generations—as in my family and the family of my friend.
God longs for His
people to embrace the truth that we are not bound by the bad choices of our
parents and grandparents. At any point we can break free from our past and change
the course of our destiny and the destinies of our future decedents simply by
choosing a different path.
Deuteronomy 30:19, is
clear…
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and
death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
Some have taken this verse and others like
it to mean that if we are walking in blessing we will never suffer pain or
experience adversity. If that were true, then Jesus did not walk in blessing on
this earth because He suffered pain and adversity on a level that few of us
will ever experience. Walking in the blessing of God is about a whole lot more
than having plenty of money and being free from adversity and sickness.
Walking in blessing is about having the
inner strength to manage the hardships of life with grace and dignity. When we
walk in the blessings of God, we become a blessing to those around us. We experience
the peace of God on a deeply personal level and are able to pass that peace on
to others. When we walk closely with God, He showers us with blessings that produce
an enduring legacy of wisdom, joy and righteousness for future generations.
Choosing to live a life of blessing is
about more than simply being saved. A relationship with Jesus Christ does not
guarantee a functional existence. Sadly, Christians can and often do pass on
the curse of bad choices to their children. Salvation is the beginning—not the
end—of our faith journey.
The key to a life well lived is salvation
combined with obedience. We choose a life of blessing by walking in obedience
to God’s commands and by living out God’s truth. Knowing and understanding
Scripture is the key to discerning which choices bring blessing and which do not.
The blessings of God are born out of the deliberate
decision to make different choices than our parents and grandparents made. We
walk in blessing when we embrace God’s truth with our whole heart, mind and
spirit. We must seek daily to become the healthy, whole followers of Jesus we
have been called to become.
As you come to him, the
living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him you also, like living stones,
are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ~ 1st
Peter 2:4-5
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