Purifying Your Branch

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Let’s be honest: most of our family trees aren’t very pretty. In fact, for most of us, those branches are filled with adultery, pornography, divorce, substance abuse, addiction, physical violence, and more. And even if your family hasn’t been affected by one of these, your family history hasn’t failed to affect you in one way or another.

At some point, every man must decide: will I purify my branch of the family tree, or will I allow this poison to seep through to another generation?  Purifying your branch of the family tree begins with driving a stake into the ground with the decision that you and your family will follow Him.

When you do this, you transition your family from a pattern of sickness to the possibility of living for God. For generations to come, people will look at your family tree and see that under your leadership, life was influenced for good rather than for evil.

Going against the trends of past generations isn’t easy to do. But it’s worth the effort to blaze a new path—a path that’s honorable; a path that’s worth following; and a path that will show God’s grace and goodness to future generations.

“One must live the way one thinks or end up thinking the way one has lived.” – Paul Bourget (1852–1935)