… punishing the children for the sin of the fathers … — Exodus 20:5
For a God who says He loves justice, this seemed awfully unfair to me.
So I asked Him about it. Remember, when God doesn’t make sense, pursue Him. Don’t run away from Him, run after Him. Tug on His sleeve, and don’t let go, just like my kids do with me.
Anyway, I asked God. And He pointed out to me that the verse doesn’t say that God punishes children because their fathers sin. Instead, God punishes the next generation because, although they decry the faults of their elders, they don’t learn from their mistakes. They don’t go to God, renounce the sins of the previous generation, and obtain from their Heavenly Father a new family identity. This is why the teen who rebels against his parents grows up to look just like His parents.
The good news is this: We followers of Jesus Christ have a new Father and He doesn’t sin. When we bring Him into the dark places of our lives, the sins of our earthly fathers lose their grip on us. We are set free from their downward pull.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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