The Jewish Roots of Christianity | How to Leave a Legacy that Reminds Your Children of Their Heritage

Raising our children in today’s world is no doubt a challenge. As parents, we are faced with daily contemplations about…

• What boundaries do I set?
• What if my child is struggling and not telling me?
• Is he/she being bullied?
• What if my child is the bully?
• What is my child really doing at school, home, and out with friends?

These taunting questions could be the wrong queries. Perhaps it’s better to look at parenting from a different angle.

Instead of asking about what your child may or may not be doing, perhaps it’s time to take an introspective look at your relationship with your child, your relationship with your Savior, and your relationship with God’s instruction.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”—James 1:22-25

The Predicament of Parenting Today

In our Western culture today, we compartmentalize our lives. We have adopted a worldview and look through a Hellenized lens instead of a Hebraic lens regarding our daily lives. We’ve become so far detached from our heritage that we are on theological thin ice—a house built on sand, if you will.

As a result, parenting from a biblical perspective seems to be out of our reach. We don’t know where to turn, so we seek what is the easiest and most accessible to us. Our homes are in an uproar, and our relationships become broken. We need a “fix”—and fast.

We can’t find the time to dig into our spiritual inheritance and bring it to light so we can pass it on to our children. We hear Bible verses such as Proverbs 22:6…

• “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

But because of the small root system we have, “the way he should go,” is confusing to us. We end up asking ourselves, “What way should I go?”

Think about it this way… A root is the part of the plant that provides support, water, and nourishment—to the whole plant. If the root system is blocked, the plant begins to die.

But what if in your spiritual root system…

• There were wisdom and blessing that you could apply now?
• There was an understanding that restored peace in your home and provided a future for your children?
• There was a revelation in God’s written instruction for your lives that He was waiting for you to tap into—to begin to dig into—the culture and the covenant it was written in?

If we want healing in our parenting, relationships, finances, and health, we must connect to our roots.

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord…

“…And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”—Isaiah 11:1-2, 10

“When you read the Word from the perspective of covenant, the one new family in Christ, and see Jesus as our Chief Rabbi as well as Chief Priest—it truly enriches your faith and helps you discover your own identity, purpose, and power in the midst of the cultural confusion plaguing our times.

There is much to discover and uncover in the lost roots and the forgotten heritage of our faith. Let’s get back to the Jesus of the Bible and the heritage He meant for us to have.”—An excerpt from Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage by Curt Landry

The Promise of Parenting in the Future

God is not a man and cannot lie. He wants us to cross over and possess our inherited blessing! He longs to see His children delight in His word and promises. And His blessing comes with a promise…

“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

“Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’”—Deuteronomy 6:1-3 (emphasis added)

When we begin to listen to the words of the covenant and embrace the richness of the Holy Spirit’s teaching, seeking first God’s Kingdom, we start to find our firm footing. Then we can move forward, and He will instruct us on how to repair brokenness in every area of our lives.

He wants to see good fruit multiply, but until you connect with the Good Vine, the fruit is fleeting, and it’s impossible to leave a legacy that reminds your children of their heritage.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”—Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (emphasis added)

God doesn’t want us to compartmentalize our lives; He wants us to soak up the living water and nourishment He provides at the root so that it flows into the next generation, so they will never forget.

“To help you understand this forgotten heritage that God has been holding in waiting for us, I want to invite you into my story, a story God has taught me strangely parallels that of His Church. As I, though Jewish, was orphaned as a Gentile, so too the Church, born Jewish, got disconnected from her heritage when Rome took her over under Constantine and cut her off from her Hebraic origins and insisted on viewing her tenets and teachings through the lens of Hellenized philosophy.

“But in the same way I learned of my true heritage and have reconnected with it, I believe God is reconnecting His Church with her Hebraic beginnings today, and thus reinfusing her with identity, purpose, and power so that she will be ready as the Bride He will return for.”—An excerpt from Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage by Curt Landry

Dig deeper into your inheritance and the lasting legacy you can leave for you children… go [HERE] to read more about “Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage.”