Seize the Moment – Day 423
The Next Generation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, May 14.
How were you shaped by your childhood?
The decisions of others impact who we become. That is never a defense for our own choices as we each are accountable for our own decisions, but it does help us understand what influences us to think or act the way we do.
Jacob recently had a personal encounter with God, but, unfortunately, his kids have been shaped by a lifetime of watching Jacob deal with their grandfather, Laban, and their moms (Jacob’s wives and their handmaids).
Should it be of any surprise to us that there are some troubles in this Brady Bunch?
The next installment of the patriarch’s soap opera comes from Jacob’s children, the new kids on the block in Shechem, where the family settled after Jacob’s reconciliation with Esau.
In a tragic turn of events, Jacob’s daughter Dinah is deeply wronged by a man from Shechem.
Genesis 34:13 records the brothers initial words in their plot for vengeance, “But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.”
To our horror, their twisted plan for vengeance is not just against the man responsible for the crime, but against every man in the town. The scene turns gruesome and all they say in defense for their behavior is, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?” (Genesis 34:31).
From deceit and trickery, the family moves to murder and mayhem.
The problem with generational sin is that, like all sin, it progresses with each successive generation. Until there is repentance based on an absolute standard of right and wrong, each generation justifies their behavior relative to the starting point of the previous generation’s choices.
Seize the moment and repent today. Little ears are listening and little eyes are watching. How is your life shaping the next generation?