It's a Family Thing

When I went to the skin cancer doctor for the first time, I had to fill out four sheets of paper … front and back!  Many of the questions were about my family history.  What did my father die of?  How old was he when he died?  What did my mother die of?  How old was she?  What did my father’s mother … well, you get the picture.  These questions may seem irrelevant, but they get to my family’s medical predispositions.  You see, I am who I am in part because of who my parents are, and their parents, and so on.  Hey, I received my predisposition to sin from my parents and their parents too.  But don’t judge me; you received a sin nature from your parents too, all the way back to Adam.  But we can break that evil cycle.  We can trust in Jesus Christ and start a new family line.  We can become a part of God’s forever family.  But if we don’t, we will pass on our sin nature to our children and their children.  Moses said in Deuteronomy 5:9, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them (idols), nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”  If we are evil, our children will follow our evil example.  If we trust in Jesus and take our children to church, they will hear about salvation and about Jesus.  It’s that simple.  So, your decisions can affect generations to come … for good or for evil.  No pressure.  Just choose the good and trust in Jesus.  He’ll do the rest.