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Change Can Begin With You
‘Build an altar to the Lord your God.’ Judges 6:26 NKJV
We may all be aware of individuals who have done something really wrong, and then try hide it or find someone else to blame. Often we might try to excuse ourselves by saying our shortcomings are hereditary, or try to blame our faults on our past—‘it was the way I was brought up;’ ‘I didn’t know any better;’ ‘it’s not my fault.’ We may even try to cover up mistakes that our family has made in the past, thinking that it reflects badly on us. When it comes to your upbringing and family tree, sometimes you can’t do better than learn from it! But by God’s grace you can do a lot about your future.
Your parents may have stumbled in spiritual blindness, but you can walk in the light of God’s Word—and take your family with you. Gideon, an Old Testament hero, grew up in a family of idol-worshippers. It was a cultural thing; everybody did it. But God had plans for Gideon, so the angel of the Lord visited him one day and said, ‘Tear down the altar of Baal that your father has…and build an altar to the Lord your God.’ (Judges 6:25–26 NKJV) Now, that wasn’t an easy thing for Gideon to do because by nature he was a fearful person. And when he stepped out in faith to obey God, the townspeople wanted to kill him. But because Gideon said ‘yes’ to God, he ended up changing his entire family.
So the word for you today is: change in your family can begin with you. Indeed, if not you—then who?
written by Bob Gass
‘Build an altar to the Lord your God.’ Judges 6:26 NKJV
We may all be aware of individuals who have done something really wrong, and then try hide it or find someone else to blame. Often we might try to excuse ourselves by saying our shortcomings are hereditary, or try to blame our faults on our past—‘it was the way I was brought up;’ ‘I didn’t know any better;’ ‘it’s not my fault.’ We may even try to cover up mistakes that our family has made in the past, thinking that it reflects badly on us. When it comes to your upbringing and family tree, sometimes you can’t do better than learn from it! But by God’s grace you can do a lot about your future.
Your parents may have stumbled in spiritual blindness, but you can walk in the light of God’s Word—and take your family with you. Gideon, an Old Testament hero, grew up in a family of idol-worshippers. It was a cultural thing; everybody did it. But God had plans for Gideon, so the angel of the Lord visited him one day and said, ‘Tear down the altar of Baal that your father has…and build an altar to the Lord your God.’ (Judges 6:25–26 NKJV) Now, that wasn’t an easy thing for Gideon to do because by nature he was a fearful person. And when he stepped out in faith to obey God, the townspeople wanted to kill him. But because Gideon said ‘yes’ to God, he ended up changing his entire family.
So the word for you today is: change in your family can begin with you. Indeed, if not you—then who?
written by Bob Gass
