Friday, August 24, 2018

PLAYING FAVORITES AMONG YOUR CHILDREN HAS BAD OUTCOMES

Proclamation:
“Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.  He said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near, then I will kill my brother Jacob.’”  Genesis 27:41 (NIV)

Explanation:
These are the words of God which were written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Abraham’s wife Sarah died at the age of one hundred twenty-seven, (Genesis 23:1) and she was buried in a cave overlooking a field in Canaan. (Genesis 23:19)  Abraham sent his senior servant to his home country to find a wife for his son Isaac. (Genesis 24:1-4)  When he got there, the servant prayed and then he found Rebekah. (Genesis 24:12-16)  It was in her arms that Isaac found comfort after his mother’s death. (Genesis 24:67)  In the mean time, Abraham remarried and had five more sons. (Genesis 25:1-4)  He lived to be one hundred seventy-five years old before he died. (Genesis 25:7-8)  Later on when Isaac was sixty years old, he and Rebekah had paternal twin sons, Esau and Jacob. (Genesis 25:26)  The problem was that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. (Genesis 25:27-28)  When the boys grew up and Isaac had gotten old and his eyes were weak, Jacob, with the help of his mother, tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing that he had planned to give his oldest son, Esau, and he held a grudge against Jacob and planned to kill him. (Genesis 27:1-45)

Application:
We are blessed to have children. (Deuteronomy 33:24)  We are to train them in the way that they should go. (Proverbs 22:6)  We are to nurture them and bring them up in the fear and admonition of The Lord God, but we are not to provoke our children to anger. (Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21)  By showing more love and favor to one child more than the others, parents cause children to resent their siblings and that resentment can lead to some very bad outcomes. 


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