Family Background - Moises Palacios

1) What is a family?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, family is the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents looking after their children. Family is also defined as a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head. This is a basic definition of family. However, as believers, in order to fully understand the concept of family we need to go back to the beginning of the creation.

The institution of family is not a concept created by humans but by God. In Genesis 2:18, we can see how He instituted the family.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

So far, God said that everything he had created was good except for the fact that Adam was alone. He then formed Eve taking a rib from Adam. When Adam saw her, he recognized that she was “bone of [his] bones, and flesh of [his] flesh”. The following verse says: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” Right at this moment, God brought Adam and Eve together and established the basis for the family.

2) What is the purpose for the family?

In Genesis 1:27-28, It says:

“God blessed them [Adam and Eve] and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’ ”

God gave Adam and Eve specific instructions for their union. One of those is that He desires that husbands and wives bring forth offspring. This builds on the definition God has for a family. In God’s plan for the family, the husband and wife, in the covenant of marriage, should be in such a relationship that God would grant them children according to his plan. Within the family God has given its members roles and responsibilities.

Each member in the family has specific roles to play in order to keep this institution going in the right direction. For example, fathers and mothers are to bring up their children in the teachings of the Lord and to not provoke, badger or shame them. This is the definition of a family and the purpose for why God created. However, because of the fall, Adam and Eve passed on to their offspring something that was never intended to be passed on: Sin.

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” Romans 5:12

We are all descendants of Adam and Eve; consequently, we are all born inherently sinful. This nature has caused damage to all aspects of life. Families have been affected as well because of this nature.

In the Bible, there are examples of how sin affected families. The sexual immorality of David and his son Solomon not only affected their own lives but the lives of many generations after them. Abraham’s habit of lying had direct consequences in his own life. However, the effects of those lies did not stop with him but persevered in the lives of Isaac and Jacob. These examples revealed that sin not only has a direct effect in our lives but also a ripple effect in the lives of those who come after us.

3) Generational Sin

Every single baby has a sinful nature waiting to break out. When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed that sin on to their children, grand-children, great-grand-children, and beyond. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). Besides the sin that we inherited and fall in because of our choices, there is sin that is passed down from parents to children and then to their children. This is known as Generational Sin.

This is seen in our own families and in society. Prejudice gets passed down from father to son. Alcoholism runs in families. Children of divorced parents are more prone to divorce when they grow up. We are familiar with our own sins and failures. However, we often missed the implications of our sin for our children and grandchildren.

4) Messed Up Families

Have you ever wondered how hard it is to find an example of a “healthy family” in the Bible? It’s more common to find families sin and pain than to find families with a lot of harmony. An example is the different kings during Isaiah’s ministry. Three very different rulers, but each a father, and each a son — and each a sinner in his own way. Parents will definitely impact (positively or negatively) the life of their sons/daughters, and they will respond in a certain way to the successes and/or failures of them. This is clearly seen in the life of Uzziah.

Uzziah became king when he was sixteen! The people entrusted him to govern an entire nation of God’s people. Despite rising to power early in his life, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done during his lifetime.

Unfortunately, Amaziah hadn’t always done what was right with the right heart (brought foreign gods into Judah and worshiped them). This led him to his end. The people conspired against him, hunted him down and executed him. He died in shame, as a traitor and adulteress against God himself.

Despite his father’s falls, Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He imitated what was right in God’s eyes in his father’s example, and he abandoned what was wrong in God’s eyes. However, when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. He became unfaithful to the Lord. Just like his father he fall into temptation. He followed God for years, but then fell into terrible moral failure. He was confronted by failed to listen to counsel. As a result, God struck him with leprosy and lived and ruled alone. Uzziah’s son Jotham became king after him.

Jotham became king at 25, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Like his father, he followed his father’s example in godliness, while refusing to repeat many of his father’s failures. Despite the number of his accomplishments, he failed to tear down the high places where men and women worshiped foreign gods. This sin was also committed by his father. This shows that Jotham was not immune to his father’s bad influence.

We may be more likely than others to repeat our parents’ unique failures because we learned so much from them. When people come from unhealthy homes, This might affect the foundations by which our lives need to rest upon. This can cause problems throughout life if they are not dealt with in a healthy manner as we saw in the life of Amaziah (Uzziah’s father), Uzziah and his son Jotham. Despite the choices of our families, we are still responsible for our own choices.

5) “Not my fault but theirs”

It is tempting to try and blame our parents for our problems and failings. We often justify our bad behavior or lack of judgement because our parents failed in the areas that we do. This has become the excuse that many use. However, each and one of us is responsible for our actions and choices.

We are accountable to God for your actions, and we cannot blame our parents or to anyone else for our sin. When we stand alone before God, we will be responsible for the life choices that we have made. Fortunately, the Bible teaches us one a vital truth about generational sin: There is Hope in Christ Jesus.

6) How can we overcome family sin patterns?

If you are a son or daughter from a family with sin and brokenness, we can walk away from it; we can reject the sins our parents kept in the home. We may be more likely than others to repeat our parents’ failures because we learned them at home. However, God’s word and his Spirit can always rescue us from the bondage of sin, even if it is not our own.

Whether your parents “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” or “did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord,” you have the opportunity to choose and turn from sin yourself. You cannot undo their sins, or pay for them. However, you can kill the same sins before they undo you.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the sin patterns in your family. You might need to do a brief genogram or family tree displaying your family sin history in order to recognize the patterns and increase your self-awareness of their sin.

6) Prayer for deliverance

Take time to repent and confess the family sin patterns and remember to have someone with you as you pray this prayer:

I nail_____________(list out the things the Holy Spirit has revealed to you here)

to the cross of Jesus Christ and I repent of joining with it.

I break all agreements I have made with _________________ known or unknown and I repent of joining with ________________.

I ask you, Father, to send ________________ far away from me!

Father, what do you You want to give me in place of ___________?

7) Conclusion

The Bible’s main theme is God’s gracious plan to redeem sinners. In order for God to work in your lives and in the lives of your family, you need to become aware of our sinfulness; you need to acknowledge our powerlessness to save ourselves, and you need to believe and love his Son and the gospel he preached. God specializes in redeeming messes. If there is sin and brokenness in your family, see it as an opportunity for God’s grace to become visible to your loved ones and pray that God will work on the hearts of your loved ones.

What can you do about generational sin?

How do those family sin patterns manifest in your life?

Do I take into consideration the effects that my choices in the life of my family?

Resources

Soul Care, Dr. Rob Reimer

Spiritual action steps. Response activity for Bob Reimar’s chapter on overcoming family sin patterns.

Desiring God’s Articles

Are Your Relational Problems Inherited?

You Are Not Destined to Be Your Parents

God’s Mercy in Messed Up Families

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The Broken Home