01-Genesis_11_10-11
01-GENESIS 11:10-11
Date: 1/4/2001
Keywords: genealogy, priorities, self-examine, values
1/4/2001
11:10-11
This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
As my Bible says, each life is defined far differently than we define our lives today. Here it is their name, age at the birth of the oldest son, the names of that one and the other children, and their age at death. It asks how I would like to define myself in a genealogy.
Before I think about that, it occurs to me that the longevity of these people may have had something to do with the climate but it also was important so they could quickly populate the earth. When a man lives and is vigorous for several hundred years, he can father many children.
The other thought that comes is the value of the children. Some of these are important in the story because of their lineage or their actions but most are never mentioned again. That is not important but it is significant that they were mentioned in the first place. God put them in His book.
If I defined myself the same way as this genealogy, I would say: Elsie lived twenty-one years and became the mother of Darcy. After that, she became the mother of Karen and Scott, then lived ___ years.
The exercise says most people define themselves by their titles and job descriptions and I was about to do that: mother, artist, writer, etc. but that is not the challenge. It says to identify myself in terms of values.
Elsie is a creative person who enjoys spending time in God’s Word and in prayer. She serves His people and her family through her spiritual gifts of teaching and discernment and by using the many skills God has given her.
In trying to word this, I realize that I do not place the same priority on my family as the genealogy does. My children are not in a rightful place on my list. I know they should be more of a priority but have to admit they are not. That must change.
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