I think this is particularly true with younger men. So many of us think that the stuff we do either only effects us or doesn't effect anyone. Young men find themselves in deep traps of lust, pornography, pride, covetousness and many other things that they think only has bearing on them and their lives. Yet they don't realize that their sins and their poor decisions do in fact effect their children and their children's children.
The idea of legacy when one thinks about it, does in fact add a ton of pressure to a person but it also makes us take a sober look and see that what we do in life really does echo through eternity.
When you look at the Old Testament, you see over and over again God talking about people being blessed or cursed based off of what their fathers did. We see phrases like: He followed the Lord just like his father or He follows the Lord because his father did. We also see phrases like: may the sins of this generation follow your line to the fifth generation after you!
The reality is, that we men need to think in terms of legacy, because we are either laying down a destructive path for our children and grandchildren or a healthy one. Isn't it odd that most dads who are alcoholics have alcoholic sons? Don't you find it terrible that an abusive husband ends up procreating abusive husbands?
The reality is there and we must watch our lives; first so we can be right with God and second so our kids can be.
I do not mean to diminish the role of a mother, for mothers are great and loving and kind, but we men seem to have the task of taking the responsibility for our legacy, unlike women do. If you go to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and type in the phrase: "because his father" you'll get 32 results, and you type in "because of his mother" you only get one viable result.
We men are held accountable for our legacy, so we must begin a legacy that is on track with the Lord, we are to create a legacy that is given over to the Lord an we must own up to our junk and seek for God to cut it out of our lives.
To make it more plain. If we are struggling with sexual sin, we can bet our kids will. If we are struggling with perpetual lying, we can bet our kids will. If we are struggling with worshipping money, or anything besides God, you can bet our kids will. It's time to confess our junk men! It's time for us to come clean and redirect the path of our legacy.
That's the God-given gift---we can redirect the legacy our fathers have left for us! We don't have to live in the shadows of a bad legacy. If you come from a broken home, you can redirect your legacy to a healthy marriage. If you come from an abusive home you can redirect your legacy to love and comfort. If you come from a home of alcoholism, you can redirect your legacy.
How can we direct our legacies? By giving over to the Spirit of God, admitting that you can't change on your own. Owning the sins in your life, seeking help, accountability and manly friendship, that's how!
Our young men are walking around, feeling hopeless...we can change their legacy by the power of God! If we yeild to God and his desires for our lives, rather than our own desires, our legacy will turn upside down. For too long, we men have tried to change on our own, without the Power of the Spirit to guide us. It's time for us to man up and hand our lives back over to God and ask him to make a God-Driven legacy that will last to the fifth generation!
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