The education in Christian values that we give to our children is more important than we can imagine. Let’s contrast the generations of two characters from the end of the 18th century and their generations: Max Jukes and Jonathan Edwards.
Max Jukes was born in 1700 and lived in New York. He did not believe in Jesus Christ, nor did he educate his children in the way of the Lord. He refused to take his children to church, even when they probably asked him to. Of its 1,026 descendants:
- 300 died prematurely
- 100 were sent to prison and were imprisoned for an average of 13 years
- 120 were prostitutes
- 100 were alcoholics
- His family cost the United States $1,308,000 and made no contribution to society.
More information in the next link.
Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703 and also lived in New York at the same time as Jukes. However, he lived in continuous contact with the things of God. He married a woman of the same with the same Christian ideals. Despite his busy schedule writing, teaching, and pastoring at his church, he had a habit of spending an entire hour with his children a day. He also took his children to church every Sunday. Of his 729 descendants:
- 300 were religious ministers
- 65 were university professors
- 13 were university deans
- 60 authors of good books
- 3 were elected congressmen from the United States
- 1 was vice president of the United States
Edward’s family never cost the state a penny.
More information in the next link.
When one analyzes the two cases we can contrast various things with the Word.
OBLIGATION TO TEACH THE BIBLE TO OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.
The Lord in His Word indicates to us how He greatly blesses the marriage, and how He seeks a Holy offspring.
“Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring… ” Malachi 2:15
But in order for our descendants to be in the way of God, we need to be taught by parents.
“Train children in the right way,and when old, they will not stray.“Proverbs 22: 6
The Bible tells us that we have to do it at all times. Not one day a week, not with a chat, not with a meeting, but every day and at all times.
“You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.” Deuteronomy 11: 18-21
Also this task does not end with our children, but we also have to continue teaching our grandchildren.
“ But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children ” Deuteronomy 4: 9
GOD’S PROMISE WITH THE PERSON TO FOLLOW HIS WAY
In Exodus 20 are the 10 commandments that God wrote on a stone tablet. In the Second Commandment the Lord says the following:
“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generationa] of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20: 5-6
That is, God is indicating to us that we will have a blessing if we love him and keep his commandments. But also, the word tells us that it will go wrong for us if we don’t. There is not much alternative.
In the next two passages exactly the same is repeated. We have only 2 ways to choose.
“If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.” Deuteronomy 28: 1-4
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known. ” Deuteronomy 11: 26-28
In the new testament, our Lord Jesus Christ repeats it to us in other words. He tells us about the wide door and the narrow door:
“When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” Luke 13: 13-14
CAN WE ESCAPE THE CURSE OF OUR PARENTS?
Some who are reading will wonder what happens when their ancestors have not followed God’s path. Are we doomed to failure? Is the Jukes Way waiting for us? And the answer is a resounding NO.
Precisely, the coming of our Lord and Savior is to break that cursed path in which probably you and I have been raised with family, friends and a neighborhood environment totally alien to the will of God. The Lord tells us very clearly in his Word:
Jeremiah 31: 27-34 The new covenant
“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”
And indeed, if my ancestors had their teeth because they ate sour grapes, I don’t have to have it if I receive Christ in my heart. You just have to open your heart to Christ and He will teach you everything, and He will make you feel what you should do and He will guide you on the narrow path of salvation.
CONCLUSION
Take a self-examination and think about what your path is like. If you want to change your life we invite you to receive God in your heart, since only Jesus Christ can make you a new person. Visit our KNOW CHRIST page.
