Monday, January 26, 2009
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Our daughter was just a toddler, and she'd often talk with me while I was getting ready in the morning. I'd be brushing my teeth, or shaving, or combing my hair. But one morning, unbeknownst to my wife, our daughter got in the bathroom, stood on something, and got the blade razor that I shaved with. When her mother walked in, our daughter was stroking that razor across her face, minus any shaving cream and leaving some serious scratches and scrapes behind.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When It Hurts to Copy Your Father."
All our daughter was doing was copying her father and inflicting wounds as a result. That's a mistake a lot of folks, grownup folks, have made...copying their father or their mother, and inflicting wounds as a result.
There are things our father and mother did, things they said, that we were determined not to repeat when we had kids. Well, so much for that good intention. All too often, the longer we live, the more we sound like or act like our father or mother in ways that we never wanted to repeat. We know how much those things hurt us, and in spite of ourselves, they are now hurting our children: that same temper, that same critical spirit, that same manipulating, guilt tripping, harsh words, withdrawal or selfishness.
It seems like we're almost powerless to change the dark side of us. We hate it, especially the part that was handed down to us by what I call "family sins." If we could have changed those things we would have by now, which makes our word for today from the Word of God really, really good news. It's in 1 Peter 1:18-19.
God says, "You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers." In other words, there's actually hope of changing, of actually getting rid of some of those "empty ways" handed down to us by our father or mother. How does this "redeeming" happen? The Bible goes on to say "you were redeemed...with the precious blood of Christ." So there's a connection between my family baggage and the violent death of Jesus Christ on the cross?
There's all the connection in the world. Because all this dark stuff inside us, whether it's from our past or from our own choices, is wrapped up in God's word for it - sin. And our sin is what Jesus died for on the cross to forgive it, to break its power, to make possible a relationship where Jesus comes right into your heart, into your personality, and changes you from the inside out!
That is good news - not only for you, but for all the people you love. There's a Savior who literally stands ready to save you from the sin that's already done way too much damage. The transformation begins when you reach out to Jesus and you trust Him to be your own personal Savior from your personal sin which He died to make possible that relationship. If you've never begun your relationship with Him, you have yet to have your sins forgiven. You have yet to experience His life-changing power on the inside of you, this could be your day for that new beginning.
Now, it's a matter of talking to Him and telling Him in total faith, "Jesus, I cannot change myself. I cannot forgive my own sin. I cannot get out from under my dark side. But I believe you died on the cross, and the reason you died was to deal with all of that darkness - all of that sin. Today I'm ready to turn from that and let go of that sin with both hands, so I have both hands to grab You. Jesus, beginning right here; beginning right now, I am Yours."
We would love to help you be sure that you have that relationship. A lot of people have gone to our website and found a lot of help there in getting started with Jesus. And I'd like to invite you to do that today as soon as you can. Go to YoursForLife.net. Or call toll free if you want to get the little booklet Yours For Life. It's 877-741-1200.
When you open up your life to Jesus, you have for the first time in your life the power to say, "It stops in this generation!"