"The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him" (Pro 20:7 KJV).
Nowhere is this more vividly illustrated than in the lives of Jonathan Edwards and Max Jukes.
This anecdote is taken from "America is Too Young to Die" by Leonard Ravenhill, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany Fellowship, 1979, p. 112)
Max Jukes, [an] atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly [woman], and from this union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one and a quarter million dollars [before inflation].
Then there is a record of a great man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly [woman]. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards, of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States Senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one Vice-President of the United States, 80 public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. Jonathan Edwards' descendants did not cost the state a penny.
Today, in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism, we are told that God must be kept out of public view. It is even wrong to say "God bless America" or "Merry Christmas," according to these "politically correct" demagogues. Instead of the blessings that came to Jonathan Edwards' progeny, we see a growing multitude like the descendants of Max Jukes! "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Pro 14:34).
Lord, let us live our lives not for today, but for the generations that shall follow us, should You tarry Your return. Perhaps, by Your grace, it might be said a couple of hundred years from now that the reason a family is godly and serving Jesus is because of the life of their great, great grandfather. Give us, O Lord, a godly heritage and progeny! Amen!
