Change can begin with you

“Build an altar to the Lord your God.” Jdg 6:26 NKJV

The story’s told of a family that wanted to have its history chronicled, so they hired a professional biographer. There was just one problem. They were worried about Uncle George, the black sheep of the family who had been executed in the electric chair for committing several murders. 

“No problem,” said the biographer. “I’ll simply say Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution; that he was attached to his position by the strongest ties, and that his death came as a real shock.” 

Seriously: 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” (vv. 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 townsfolk 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?