Generational Faith

I got up this morning with the prophet Zephaniah on my mind.  :)

One of the startling things about this Old Testament prophet (like others) is his family tree.
Zephaniah 1:1

The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:

Of all these names, you will probably recognize a couple.  Hezekiah mentioned here is the same King Hezekiah mentioned in several books of the Old Testament.  He was Zephaniah's great-great grandfather.  The kingly line of Hezekiah did not extend down through Zephaniah's ancestors, though.  Instead it went through Zephaniah's great-uncle, Manasseh, Amariah's brother.  And then, you may recognize the name Josiah, another godly, benevolent king of Judah.  Josiah was Zephaniah's cousin.  Let me throw another couple of non-relative names into the mix and then draw some parallels: the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Hezekiah's father was the infamous King Ahaz (not to be confused with Ahab).  His mother was a godly woman, a daughter of the prophet, Zechariah.  Her name was Abijah, often shortened to Abi.

Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, was the most evil king to ever rule over Judah, according to 2 Kings 21:11.  Tradition holds that it was he who murdered the prophet Isaiah, a close friend of King Hezekiah.  Manasseh also sacrificed his own sons on the fiery, pagan altar of the demon god, Molech.

Manasseh 's son was King Amon (who was evil and eventually assassinated), and Manasseh's grandson was King Josiah, another God-fearing king of Judah.

The prophet, Jeremiah, was a contemporary of Zephaniah's.

I guess you are wondering about the point of all this.  Here you go.

Many of us beat ourselves up because our children and/or grand-children and/or great-grandchildren do not embrace the faith in Jesus Christ, whom we dearly love.  We tend to see their wandering or outright idolatry as personal failures on our part.  The Christian community can often be judgmental toward Christian parents similarly.  The lineage I described above, however, points out that God gives no guarantee our offspring will follow Him.

Oh yes, there are general principles in Scripture and these hold true - - namely, that if you raise your children in a loving, God-fearing home, where Jesus Christ is honored the children will eventually embrace the faith.  However, this is not an iron-clad guarantee.  Each of the people mentioned above had the free will to either follow the God of their forefathers, as revealed in the Old Testament writings, or not.  In the sovereignty of God, some chose to do so; others did not.

I have a friend who told me that she prayed for 36 years for her father to come to Jesus Christ.  God answered her prayers and the man did, in old age, accept Christ as Savior.  Hallelujah for that!  Her example is inspirational and should motivate us all to pray for our friends and loved ones who are "giving Jesus the hand" - - - you know, when you hold your vertical palm toward someone as if to say, "Back off!"  These are they who have heard the truth of the gospel, yet have chosen to embrace some version of Satan's lies and deceptions as a poor substitute for the abundant life.

Indeed, prayer, along with living our faith out before them in love, are our only weapons of spiritual warfare in this spiritual battle for the souls of our most beloved.
Yet, there are times where, despite our best efforts and most fervent prayers, our loved ones make the choice to walk away from God's offer of salvation, or to delay it or to ignore it in favor of more enticing pursuits.

So, in a sense, there is no such thing as "generational faith".  Our descendants cannot suck saving faith out of their baby bottles.  Salvation is not automatically conferred, nor can it be assumed.  Parents who lackadaisically make that assumption often awake out of their complacent stupor to find that their children have become mired in deception and/or made the decision (whether overtly or quietly) to reject Jesus Christ.

I don't know what happened in the family line of King Ahaz.  It contains extremes of godliness and ungodliness, which, honestly, I find troubling.  Part of the explanation is that Satan was hell-bent on destroying the Davidic line, God's ordained Messianic line, using whatever evil methods he could employ.  (And, he didn't waste any time.  Have you looked at the sons of King David?!) While the birth of Messiah is not at stake in our family trees, Satan still hates the Christ-honoring family and delights in his attempts to destroy each and every one.

Few really like to read blog posts about intense spiritual warfare.  Yet, such is an indisputable legacy of the committed Christian, along with the rich legacy of God's precious promises.

Father, I can't explain or even discern how or why I was chosen and made the personal choice to follow You.  I was no better or worse a sinner than anyone else.  My parents were good faithful Christians, but they were not paragons of virtue by any stretch.  I am humbly grateful for my salvation because I recognize that You in your sovereignty chose me as much or perhaps even more than I chose You.  And so, I pray that You, in Your perfect will, in Your flawless sovereignty, will draw to Yourself those I love, those whom I long to see made right with You.  Through these prayers of supplication you both humble me and grow my faith in You, as I increasingly recognize that salvation is a work of Your Holy Spirit, not something contrived by the will of any woman or man.  I know this: that I am eternally grateful for Your perfect love for me.  A million thank-yous...In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

https://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Zephaniah.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Hezekiah.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephaniah