Are you subject to curses brought on by no actions of yours but previous generations?

I’m not even sure where to start. The sermon taught at ECC today had a lot of information, perhaps it’s a sermon that can be taught in a total of a few weeks but we went through it in less than 40 minutes. What are your thoughts of the question above? What is your response to that? This, perhaps is also another post that is more for my own reminder and thoughts than anyone else but I always pray that you will be somehow blessed through it as well.

I’ll try to summarize it as best as I can. What is generational sin/curse? It’s the sin that many Christians have increasingly started to believe they are cursed in the way they are because of the previous generations, parents, grandparents, etc. Although Exodus 20:5 does seem to portray that exact thought at first glance, there is so much more to just that. In many versus in the bible, it tells us just the opposite.

Ezekiel 18:20…… “The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” This, I believe, applies to every single one of us, whether Christian or not. It teaches us that we need to carry individual responsibilty for our own sins, for our own troubles we caused and to know that we are not cursed from the previous generations.

Beth Moore once said… “Before we parents die of fright, let’s remember God is the only perfect parent. He’s not cursing three or four genearations over a little parental irritability. In fact, I don’t believe He’s calling a curse down on anyone. As believers under the New Covenant who have been cleansed by Christ’s blood, I think the concept of generational sin applies to us through its powerful repercussions instead.” The blood of Christ at the Cross changes everything for us, it covers all our sins.

What about Original sin? There are two points. The Curse of original sin simply means “we are sinful.” And The Cure FOR orginial sin is simply to put your faith in Jesus Christ. God looks at us through the lens of Jesus so our sins have been covered.

Personal Sin? What impact does it have on our lives and others? Three points here. One, There will always be consequences for our personal sin. We tell ourselves that it will only hurt ourselves but our choices of selfishness and arrograncy is never harmless and will always have an impact on others. Secondly, We need to be blessed through a life of holiness. God gave us 66 books of how to live a holy life and a life of holiness means simply making choices to worship our Holy God. Repeated acts of unholiness will lead to feelings of the lack of God’s prescence. Have you ever felt that before? I know I have.

And Finally, be a blessing to others. We’ve all heard this many times before but our words can be very harmful. Here’s what the Book of James tells us… “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” James 3:8-10

That has got to be one of the hardest things to follow for all of us. To constantly be verbally encouraging to everyone, including those we are not too fond of, to say words of blessings and affirmation. I know it’s one of the many areas I’m continously praying and asking God to shape me and mold me.

12 hours after this sermon, I am still trying to grasp all of the teachings. Reading and re-reading my sermon notes and the bible versus related to them. How I love Sundays. Side note: Next Sunday will be my last Sunday at ECC…. it’ll be hard not being at home again but December will come fast and I trust that God will bring me to a good church in Boston.