Scripture

Deuteronomy 5:8-10 ESV

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Consider

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“He’s a chip off the old block.”

You’ll find evidence of this truth in every family tree: Parents impose a legacy of attitudes and behaviors on their children, some for good and some for evil.

We’re all familiar with generational sin. Children who are abused often grow up to either abuse their own children or seek out partners who continue to abuse them. Alcohol and drug addictions, domestic violence, self-cutting, compulsive lying, gambling, or stealing—such behavioral dysfunctions may have a genuine biological root but are nevertheless made worse by maladaptive attitudes and behaviors that were learned in childhood. When parents cannot or will not break the chains that bind them to sinful, hurtful life choices, they leave a painful burden for their children and grandchildren to bear, like a crushing debt that gets passed on for the next generation to pay.

God addresses this issue of generational sin in the above excerpt from the Ten Commandments. The sin at issue is idolatry, but the principle is true of any sinful trait. It may seem at first glance that God is punishing innocent children for their parents’ hard-heartedness. God is, in fact, denouncing spiritually destructive choices and pointing out the curse that trickles down, even to great-grandchildren. Descendants who inherit evil, God-opposing habits, however innocently, must suffer consequences as those habits produce evil fruit in their lives.

Thankfully, God has also promised to remove the curse of inherited evil when a person turns away from it to follow after God’s ways. “Those who love [God] and keep [God’s] commandments” will be loved with God’s steadfast, strong, and faithful love (v. 10). With God’s help, we can examine our hearts and replace the hurtful habits we learned as children with the ways of the Spirit: kindness instead of cruelty, love and forgiveness in place of stubborn grudge-bearing and bitterness. When we surrender our inherited debt to God, our Father removes the curse and helps us fashion a legacy of love and hope that can bless our children, even to the third and fourth generation.

Pray

Heavenly Father, examine me for offenses against you that have been with me so long, I don’t even recognize them as sin. Give me courage to turn my back on hurtful attitudes and behaviors I learned growing up and to introduce new habits that may feel uncomfortable at first but serve your great love and purpose. Alert me to the danger of passing on hatred and bigotry to future generations; give me grace to leave a legacy of goodness instead.

Reflect

Deuteronomy 24:16; Galatians 5:22-24

Ponder

What hurtful attitude or habit did you inherit by the way you were raised? How might God want to replace it?