Title
Victory Over the Past
Scripture
But I said to their children “Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments nor defile yourself with their idols.”
(Ezekiel 20:18)
Devotional
If those who preceded you were of a reprobate mind, do not follow in their footsteps. Sin does not have to be accepted from generation to generation. If your father was a drunkard, you do not have to be one. If your mother was abusive, you do not have to be abusive. If you see the sins of others rearing their ugly heads in your life, reject them. If, for example, you were wrongfully abused as a child and those tendencies rise up in you, quench them. I understand that these inherent sins are difficult to check. Nevertheless, they can be halted. Do as James instructs, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” If you are simply aware of your besetting sin, you can have victory over it. Remember, do not blame others. You can choose godliness. You do not have to succumb to the sins of a previous generation.