“It runs in the family.”
“Everyone in our family has it/has done it.”
“You can’t escape genetics.”
“Oh you got that from so-n-so.”
In an age where we love nothing more than to shift the blame onto anyone else, we love to blame fate for our shortcomings. It is so much easier to say that “it runs in the family” than to continue to say, “and this is where it stops.” If we can decide that it is not our fault, then we can convince ourselves we are powerless to do anything about it.
How do sins and cycles become generational? Because we always do what we have always done and we will always repeat what we have only seen. For example, many people smoke/drink/cheat/look at porn/ etc. because they were raised in a home where that was considered the norm. That’s all they knew. The abused child becomes the abused or abusive adult, because that is what they know as typical. The sins and struggles of the past generations come through to haunt the present, and they press on to the future unless we take a stand. For the sake of the next generation, let’s take a stand. Let’s make the decision to set a new norm.
We do not battle flesh and blood. We do not struggle with things; we fight wars of the spirit. It is not the cigarette’s fault, it is not the drink’s decision, and the words can’t force you into action. We are fighting against powers and principalities with major strongholds on us, our families, and our future generation. We take a stand against a spirit of offense, against a spirit of addictive personality, against idolatry, jealousy, hate, striving, and power seeking. We look below the thing and attack the root.
Matthew 16:19 tells us that whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us that we are a new creation and the old is gone. We are warned in Ephesians 4:27 to not even give the devil an opportunity. We know the truth, and the truth sets us free (John 8:32).