The Inheritance of Character

Another little something to chew on. This one for parents.

I've been working through The Patriarchs by Beth Moore on my own for quite some time now. I don't have access to the videos so I'm just doing the Bible study portion. It's really quite good and I've enjoyed the in-depth study of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yesterday I read Genesis Chapter 26. I discovered that Isaac did some of the exact same things his father Abraham did. More specifically, he lied to a king saying that his wife was his sister. Exact same lie. Didn't work for Abraham. Didn't work for Isaac.

Let me quote a little something from Beth. "..., we have little choice regarding the physical characteristics we inherit. Those of us who want badly enough to be free in Christ and filled by His Spirit can - through the mighty power of God - decide which emotional and spiritual characteristics we are willing to maintain as an inheritance. One reason we want to be careful and deliberate about what we agree to inherit is that we too will pass on multiple characteristics and much character. Or lack of it."

It takes a little time, and effort, to think about what kinds of characteristics you inherited from your parents. I ended up making a list. Some are wonderfully good ones, and these you'll want to pass down to your children as well. Some are not. And these we must work hard to leave behind. No sense using the same lie twice. Honesty is clearly the better road.

Even if you devoted a full life to plucking out the bad, you'd still fall short and pass along something unfortunate to your children. The goal is not perfect parenting. Embrace the good things your parents left to you. Leave behind the bad. In time you'll see the blessings of that reflected in the lives of your children. Maybe, just maybe, they'll have a little less bad to leave behind when they someday examine their character inheritance.