Godliness Can Be Generational: Genesis 5:1-32
God’s ways do make a difference. Besides the message of salvation, this is an important message the Bible has to offer. Life is hard. We make many mistakes. I may not be perfect in any moment, but I genuinely believe that following God makes a difference over the length of my life.
Biblical chapters containing genealogies don’t always feel like they contain much important detail. It’s easy to feel that way, and in most cases, I don’t think it’s an inappropriate thought. If genealogies are where we are supposed to get incredibly deep spiritual truth, we’d have many more of them in the Bible.
There are spiritual truths to be gleaned out of any genealogy, though. For example, compare the Lamech in Adam’s lineage to Cain’s lineage. Adam’s Lamech lives 777 years. For people into numerology, that’s an easy number to apply a focus on God’s completion. Furthermore, when Lamech’s wife gave birth to Noah, Lamech gave praise to God. Whereas Cain’s Lamech focused on assuming the protection of God without giving God any credit, Adam’s Lamech gives God credit for his son and announces his hope in God’s grace and mercy. There is a difference between people who walk with the Lord and people who do not.
Before going further, there is great need to be careful. Just because a person can talk about the Lord doesn’t make everything they do wonderful. There have been seasons in my life where I believed in God, but my decisions weren’t wonderful. I professed belief in God. I professed belief in Jesus’ death on the cross. I professed salvation only comes through the grace of God and the faithfulness of Jesus. Even though I professed all those things and did genuinely believe them in my heart, it doesn’t imply I made good decisions. I knew the truth, but I was not interested in letting the truth influence me. I believed it, but it wasn’t making an impact in my life.
The flipside is also true. I have seen people who profess no belief in God perform incredibly generous acts of love. God is quite capable of showing His love through people who do know Him.
Therefore, we cannot assume that all people who know God are selfless and loving. We cannot assume that everyone who does not know God is self-centered and cruel. The world is not that simple.
We can, however, speak in generalities. When people are raised with a godly ethic and that godliness impacts their life, they have a significantly greater chance of being selfless and demonstrating compassion. When people are raised in a community that praises God and tries to apply God’s truth to their life, they have a greater chance of having that environment impact them. When people who are raised in the middle of godliness do something wrong, there is a greater chance they will apologize for it, seek forgiveness, and look for restoration. God’s ways do make a difference.
