Click here to read II Kings 15 on BibleGateway.com
Gotta admit, sometimes it’s hard to find much inspiration in the story of Israel’s monarchy. Let’s summarize: King so-and-so is a dirt weasel, he is assassinated and succeeded by King Loser, who is also a dirt weasel and is assassinated, and then followed by King Needs-a-Life, who decides to break the mold and become a super dirt weasel. What an inspiring story.
However, there is one theme that seems to jump out over and over again in this general trend of doofishness. Notice for most of the kings of Israel, the Bible says that “he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam.” For a little background, Jeroboam was the first king of Israel, who started his illustrious career by ripping half of the kingdom away from Solomon’s son, thereby dividing the Promised Land, and then decided to set up a couple golden calves to make sure that people didn’t go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. Nice guy. So, for the rest of Israel’s history, the Bible says that most of the kings “followed in the ways of Jeroboam.”
THE ME BONE’S CONNECTED TO THE….YOU BONE
Unfortunately, throughout the bible, it seems that both good bad habits can be transferred to future generations. Abraham passed his faith to his son Isaac, who passed it to Jacob, who passed it to Joseph; in the same way, Jeroboam passed his wayward ways on to his kids, who passed it to their kids and successors.
Of course, the Bible is also clear that God (and men, to some degree) can break these patterns, but it seems that there is often some type of moral inertia that has to be overcome first. And just to prepare you, it often takes quite a bit of effort to right the ship once it starts rocking. But there is hope, and that’s what Jesus is all about.
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO
We need to be careful that the legacy we leave for our children (and future generations, should you not have kids) is one that is pleasing to God. Sometimes we think that our actions only affect ourselves, but the Bible is clear that even our “secret” sins can affect those around us (hello, David). Additionally, secret faithfulness is also contagious (hello, woman with issue of blood).
Today, the goal is to have our secret lives be worthy of being recorded in the Bible (the good ones in the Bible, that is, not like that doofus David).
What do you want your legacy to be?