"And Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!' Then God said: 'No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.'" (Genesis 17:18, 19)
The tragedy of the Middle East is two brothers who just cannot get along. It is the hatred of the rejected brother's descendants towards the brother's descendants of the Covenant.
Reading in Genesis again, I am impressed with the fact that all which we know of God's Administration in the earth, our Salvation History, Covenant blessings, etc., is centered in family. The Kingdom of Heaven is rooted in family. The Church is rooted in family. Let's look at the positive nature of family: There is the security of relationship, friendship, acceptance, mentoring and guidance, example, instruction, loyalty, just to name a few. Now if you do not know this from your "natural" family, it is time for the Church to affirm all of the aforementioned in you. "We are Family!"
God, the Father, the Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit, this is Family. The Bible tells us, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith....And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end."
What if the Jews and Arabs would obey this command of Jesus? What if the Church were to manifest this more and more, no "favorites," no, "preferring one before another," no one feeling rejected, less than others, less "important?"---- rhetorical.
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to be a good member of, "the household of faith." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
