January 13
Genesis 25-26
Psalm 9:1-6
Proverbs 2:6-8
Matthew 9:18-38
Like Father, Like Son
“When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He thought, ‘The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” Genesis 26:7 NIV
In Genesis 12:10-20, we find Abraham in Egypt. When the men of the area asked him about Sarai, he lied and told them she was his sister. He was afraid the men would kill him so they could take her. Again, in Genesis 20:1-18, Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister to protect himself from harm. Abraham had seen God’s power and he trusted God completely, but for some reason he felt he had to lie to protect himself from men who might want to kill him to take his wife. In our reading today, we find Isaac, Abraham’s beloved son repeating his father’s behavior and lying to Abimelech (probably the son or grandson of the king Abraham lied to). Isaac was not born when Abraham and Sarah were in Egypt or when they met Abimelech, but he repeated the sin of his father. He did not trust God to protect him against the men in the area.
I can remember several times when my children were little that they said or did things that I couldn’t imagine where they had learned. Unfortunately, I usually could trace it back to something either my husband or I had done. Whether I realized it or not, they were watching everything we did and modeling their behavior after ours. As Christians, we are being watched, not only by our children, but by people all around us. Friends, relatives, co-workers, fellow Christians, and lost people are watching to see how we deal with the joys, sorrows, difficulties, and disappointments of everyday life. They are watching to see if the presence of Jesus in our life makes a difference. They want to know if we are different because the Holy Spirit lives within us. We will mess up sometimes and act in ways that do not please God. We aren’t perfect, but there should be a difference. Do people see a difference in you?
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