Ever heard a weird saying passed down through your family? Maybe it’s something your dad or grandma used to say that made no sense to anyone outside your house. My dad had a few of those — “tadpole slap a whale,” “no piece,” and one of my mom’s classics, “busier than a one-armed paperhanger.”

It’s funny how we inherit sayings — but we also inherit something deeper.

The Bible talks about this in Jeremiah 31:29:

“The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

In other words — the parents ate bad grapes, and now the kids are the ones tasting it.
That’s what inspired our Sour Showdown video this week. (If you missed it — my son Rylen and I put our taste buds to the test so you could get the point!)

Here’s the question:
👉 What am I putting on the next generation’s plate?
👉 How do my decisions taste to them?

Because what feeds me is forming them.

1. Parents Leave Patterns

The proverb in Jeremiah came from a generation living in exile. Their parents had turned from God, and the result was seventy years of slavery in Babylon. The next generation was born into the consequences of decisions they didn’t make.

But God was ready to change that story. He said, “The days are coming when they will no longer say this.”

Every generation gets a choice.

We’re not cursed — we’re conditioned.
Our family shapes us — physically, emotionally, spiritually.
Their choices become our normal.

We see it in Scripture:

• Abraham lied about Sarah.
• Isaac did the same thing.
• Jacob deceived his brother.
• Jacob’s sons lied to him.

Patterns repeat — until someone chooses to break them.

Peter put it this way:

“You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors.” – 1 Peter 1:18

You may have been shaped by where you came from — but you don’t have to stay there.

2. Patterns Leave Problems

Here’s the truth:

The next generation will have to fight what the previous generation refused to face.

That’s what happened to Israel in the wilderness.
Twelve spies saw the same land — ten came back afraid. They ran from the giants and passed fear down like a family recipe.

For forty years, they wandered — stuck outside the promise — because fear became their normal.
And their children had to face the very same giants they had avoided.

Maybe that hits home.
Maybe your family didn’t talk about feelings.
Maybe you learned that silence equals peace, or control equals strength.
Maybe you inherited a scarcity mindset — “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Maybe you inherited religion but not relationship — “We believe in God, but that’s personal.”

Maybe you inherited broken marriage patterns — “That’s just how it is.”

Every family has giants.
And when we don’t face them — they shape the way our children live.

The good news?
It may run in your bloodline, but it can stop at the blood of Jesus.

3. Decisions Determine Destinies

The wilderness generation ran from the fight — but their children, led by Joshua, faced it and saw God’s promises come true.

It only takes one person to change generations.

Jacob was that person.
Born into a flawed family, he repeated their patterns — lies, deception, broken relationships. But one night at the River Jabbok, Jacob stopped running. He wrestled with God and said, “I won’t let You go until You bless me.”

That decision didn’t just change his night — it changed his name. God called him Israel — “one who prevails with God.”

Jacob’s decision became his descendants’ identity.

Your decisions today can redefine your family’s destiny.
Old patterns aren’t as strong as new decisions.
What came from behind you can’t compare to what’s ahead of you.

The Bottom Line

Parents leave patterns.
Patterns leave problems.
But decisions determine destinies.

You might not have been handed peace — but you can leave it.
You might not have been raised with faith — but you can plant it.
You might not have seen healthy relationships — but you can model them.

It only takes one to shift a family story.
One heart surrendered. One life laid down. One person who decides, “It stops with me.”

“You may have been affected by what came before you — but you are not defined by it.”
Face your giants. Change your story. Love what you leave.