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Generational Impact Today’s Treasure: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Any of us not raised by wolves knows we bear similarities to our parents. The least of these may be physical—though the copy of my father’s nose perched on my face begs to differ. Parents were meant to impact their children’s lives, otherwise their job would be finished in the delivery room. Instead, their impact powerfully reaches past their funerals and grows faster than the grass on their graves. Through parents’ influence, we not only take on many of their characteristics, but we also can take on much of their character. Or lack of it. I’m sorry, but we all know it’s true. Let’s put it this way: sometimes our parents leave us more than a china cabinet. Short of surgery, we have little choice regarding the physical characteristics we inherit. Those of us who want badly enough to be free in Christ and filled by His Spirit can—through the mighty power of God—decide which emotional and spiritual characteristics we are willing to maintain as an inheritance. One reason we want to be careful and deliberate about what we agree to inherit is that we too will pass on multiple characteristics and much character. Or lack of it. We don’t want to judge our parents lest God and the next generation judge us by the scorecard we kept. Luke 6:37 says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Considering my past, I don’t want to use a measuring cup as I mete out mercy to others. I need a water hose hooked up to the bottomless well of God’s supply. While being merciful to preceding generations, we need to be careful not to be merciless to those who follow. For them, we need to sort the benefits from the hindrances in our inheritance. The key is to be discerning, loving, and godly in a truthful approach to all we’ve inherited so we can mark our family lines with blessing. Did you have the same reaction I did when you read today’s Scripture passages? For crying out loud, if Isaac and Abraham had to be deceitful, you’d think they could at least have come up with a new ruse! How many of us have carried on the tradition of some of our parents’ poor decisions? When we are tested by a difficult season, how we saw our parents respond (whether poorly or well) in a similar situation is ordinarily first among our multiple-choice answers. We may not choose their response, but it is always among the first responses that pop into our heads. Examples of repeated approaches to life between parents and children are endless, but today’s text highlights one too insidious to overlook. Deception, passed down through example from parent to child, can be a frightfully contagious approach to life. If honesty is not held in high esteem and practiced in the home, children learn the destructive art of deception. Unless something dramatic breaks the cycle, it carries into adulthood and can invade any realm of life. If your parents rarely made a disciplinary issue of your childhood “fibs,” honesty may not have been a premium in your upbringing. Let’s ask ourselves some difficult questions: did either of your parents practice deception? Was either of them entirely different in private than in public? Did your parents openly and easily lie for you? Or for one another? If your answers are largely affirmative, you are wise to as God to mercifully reveal any similar tendency lurking in you. Father, thank You for my parents. Whether they influenced me for the worse or for the better, they shaped who I am today. And I know You can use any family history, any testimony for Your glory. I give You who I am today. Please let that which is spiritually beneficial be passed on to my children and every future generation. Take my weaknesses—like deception, unfaithfulness, anger, unforgiveness, prejudice, gossip, or greed—and uproot them. Burn them up and bind them from having any impact on my family. Thank You so much for Your mercy and redemption. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Adapted from The Patriarchs, by Beth Moore, pages 113-115. Nashville: LifeWay Press, 2005. Used by permission.
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