The last time we were together we talked about overcoming a hurtful legacy from our father. To summarize we learned three things to be aware of in order to avoid some pitfalls. 1) Don’t make the journey of discovery and healing alone. 2) Realize that the Holy Spirit is with you, if you are a child of God, to guide and strengthen you. And 3) Focus on seeking to be the man God wants you to be and not on trying to be the opposite of the legacy you received. We ended with the thought that in order to do this, we all need a Holy Spirit fueled humility to see us through the process of discovery and healing. Then we need His humility to hand down a godly legacy to our children and grandchildren.
I only know of one way to attain anything near the humility we are talking about here and that is to spend long, thoughtful hours at the foot of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our attitude “is to be the same as that of Christ Jesus, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:5-8)
If our King and Lord could leave the honor, worship and glory of heaven and submit Himself to being humiliated and abused by the creatures He made, then we must be willing to humble ourselves before our God and each other. In this way, and only in this way, will we be able to overcome a devastating legacy and leave a godly legacy in its wake.
We do this by yielding our will, our pride, our hurts our wounds to our Lord Jesus Christ and, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, let Him fill us with the wisdom, love and courage we need to treat our children and grandchildren in a way that will have a lasting impact on them for the glory of God and for the sake of His kingdom! May God empower us for this great work.