Everyone has a backstory.
Every person you meet carries a story that explains how they became who they are. Our identities are shaped by relationships, experiences, and the messages spoken over us—especially in our formative years.
When we admire someone’s character or hear about someone making destructive choices, we often wonder: What’s their story? What shaped them?
Even the people of God have a backstory.
In Book of Judges 2:10–19, we see a powerful and sobering example of how one generation shapes the next.
Moses had led Israel out of Egypt. Joshua then led the people into the Promised Land. During Joshua’s lifetime, Israel largely followed God and experienced stability and blessing.
But after Joshua died, something devastating happened.
Scripture says:
“Another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)
Think about that for a moment.
Within one generation, the people forgot God.
The Cycle of Spiritual Collapse
Because the people did not fully obey God by removing the idols and altars of the surrounding cultures, they fell into a painful cycle that lasted hundreds of years.
The pattern looked like this:
Serve God → Fall into idolatry → Experience suffering and oppression → Cry out to God → God raises up a judge to rescue them → Restoration → Repeat.
These “judges” weren’t courtroom officials like Judge Judy. The Hebrew word shaphat refers to a heroic leader or deliverer—someone God raised up to rescue His people.
But the deeper problem was not political or military.
It was generational.
A generation arose who did not know God.
When people forget who God is, they quickly forget who they are.
When Identity Is Not Passed Down
Notice that Judges emphasizes the failure of the ancestors—the fathers—to pass down faith.
God’s design has always been that faith, identity, and security flow from our Heavenly Father through earthly fathers and mothers into the next generation.
When that chain breaks, identity confusion follows.
The Israelites began worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth.
Baal was the god of agricultural success.
Ashtoreth was the goddess of fertility and sexuality.
Sound familiar?
Our culture still worships the same things today:
Success.
Sex.
Power.
Possessions.
Performance.
Popularity.
Not much has changed.
Why Fathers Matter
Let me speak directly to the men for a moment.
This isn’t about blaming or shaming anyone, but we cannot ignore reality. In many homes today, mothers are carrying the spiritual weight of the family.
But Scripture and research both show something powerful:
The spiritual and emotional health of children is deeply connected to the engagement of their father.
When fathers are actively involved in their children’s lives:
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Kids are 80% less likely to go to jail
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75% less likely to experience teen pregnancy
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50% less likely to struggle with anxiety or depression
Fatherless children are significantly more likely to drop out of school, struggle with substance abuse, and experience abuse themselves.
The research simply confirms what God’s Word has said all along.
Identity is passed down through affirmation.
The Affirmation Jesus Received
We see the power of affirmation clearly in Gospel of Matthew 3:16–17.
At Jesus’ baptism, the Father speaks:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Notice something important.
This affirmation happened before Jesus performed miracles, preached sermons, or went to the cross.
The Father gave three powerful messages:
I see you.
“This is my Son.”
I love you.
“Whom I love.”
I delight in you.
“With him I am well pleased.”
Jesus received identity, love, and security from the Father.
And here’s the truth:
We cannot pass on what we have not received.
If someone asked me for a million dollars, I couldn’t give it to them if I didn’t have it.
The same is true with affirmation.
Love, identity, and security must first be received from our Heavenly Father before they can flow through us to others.
Think of it like plumbing.
We are the pipes.
God is the source.
What Are You Passing On?
Every one of us is a product of the messages we received—or didn’t receive—from the people who raised us. Some of us are still untangling years of silence, criticism, or absence from father figures.
But here is the hope of the gospel.
Through Christ, we are adopted into God’s family.
As Epistle to the Romans 8:14–17 says, those led by the Spirit are children of God—adopted, loved, and co-heirs with Christ. Your identity is not determined by your earthly father’s failures. It is secured by your Heavenly Father’s love. And when you receive that love, you become a conduit for it.
You begin speaking life into others:
“I see you.”
“You matter.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“God loves you, and so do I.”
A Call to Fathers and Leaders
Men, the world does not need perfect fathers.
It needs present fathers.
It needs men who will:
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Receive affirmation from God
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Speak life into their children
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Pass down faith to the next generation
Providing financially is not enough.
Protection physically is not enough.
Your voice matters.
Your presence matters.
Your affirmation matters.
A Call to Respond
Take a moment today and ask yourself three questions:
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What messages did I receive growing up?
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How have those messages shaped my identity?
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What am I passing on to others right now?
Then start where Jesus did.
Spend time with your Heavenly Father.
Jesus often withdrew to be alone with God. Why?
Because even He needed to hear the Father’s voice.
So do we.
This week, make space to hear God speak over your life:
“You are my child.
I see you.
I love you.
I delight in you.”
And then go speak those same words over someone else.
That’s how cycles of brokenness end.
And that’s how generations change.
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