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The Genesis of a Family Disaster
Life, as we all know, doesn’t come sealed off, in distinct and separate categories or sections. Everything impacts just about everything. In fact, Einstein’s theory of general relativity teaches that all matter in the universe has a gravitational pull on all other matter. That is, your body exerts a gravitational pull not only on your neighbor but on the sun and everything else in the created world, as well.
Of course, we don’t need a lesson in physics to recognize the reality of how the deeds and actions of one person can radically and even tragically impact others, even generations later. Who we are, where we are, why we are what we are—these all have been affected to some degree by the actions of others completely out of our control. Thus, how careful we need to be regarding the things we say and do, for who knows the impact, short-term and long-term, and either for good or for ill, that our deeds and words will have on others?
Read Genesis 24 and 29:21–30. What kind of family is being created here? What lesson should this reveal to us about how following customs of the world, especially when they go against principles of truth, can lead to disaster?
“The sin of Jacob, and the train of events to which it led, had not failed to exert an influence for evil—an influence that revealed its bitter fruit in the character and life of his sons. As these sons arrived at manhood they developed serious faults. The results of polygamy were manifest in the household. This terrible evil tends to dry up the very springs of love, and its influence weakens the most sacred ties. The jealousy of the several mothers had embittered the family relation, the children had grown up contentious and impatient of control, and the father’s life was darkened with anxiety and grief.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 208, 209.
What things have you been handed that were beyond your control? A lot, isn’t there? Right now, think about some important decisions you are going to make. Ask yourself: how might these choices impact others, and is that what you really want to see happen?
| SUNDAY | April 17 |
Life, as we all know, doesn’t come sealed off, in distinct and separate categories or sections. Everything impacts just about everything. In fact, Einstein’s theory of general relativity teaches that all matter in the universe has a gravitational pull on all other matter. That is, your body exerts a gravitational pull not only on your neighbor but on the sun and everything else in the created world, as well.
Of course, we don’t need a lesson in physics to recognize the reality of how the deeds and actions of one person can radically and even tragically impact others, even generations later. Who we are, where we are, why we are what we are—these all have been affected to some degree by the actions of others completely out of our control. Thus, how careful we need to be regarding the things we say and do, for who knows the impact, short-term and long-term, and either for good or for ill, that our deeds and words will have on others?
Read Genesis 24 and 29:21–30. What kind of family is being created here? What lesson should this reveal to us about how following customs of the world, especially when they go against principles of truth, can lead to disaster?
“The sin of Jacob, and the train of events to which it led, had not failed to exert an influence for evil—an influence that revealed its bitter fruit in the character and life of his sons. As these sons arrived at manhood they developed serious faults. The results of polygamy were manifest in the household. This terrible evil tends to dry up the very springs of love, and its influence weakens the most sacred ties. The jealousy of the several mothers had embittered the family relation, the children had grown up contentious and impatient of control, and the father’s life was darkened with anxiety and grief.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 208, 209.
What things have you been handed that were beyond your control? A lot, isn’t there? Right now, think about some important decisions you are going to make. Ask yourself: how might these choices impact others, and is that what you really want to see happen?
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