51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done. (I Kings 22)
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! What in the world has happened? What seemed like an ever-growing, world-impacting society under David and Solomon has come to this: everything Ahaziah did provoked God to anger. Not a good place to be. But it did not happen overnight. It was a succession of generations of the negative impact parents can have on their children. The core of the issue: people who have received blessing from God living selfishly, never being content with what He has given, always looking for ways to "fulfill" themselves more, instead of thinking about the long-term impact of their decisions and actions on those who are watching them. Sometimes it seems that all our children ( and grandchildren and great-grandchildren) imitate are our negative characteristics and choices. Your life matters: for evil and for good, by what you do and do not do. Do you want someone to give the epitaph above to someone you love? Pray over every choice you make today.
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