by Zach Roll

Handing down habits of godliness.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link

“Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him… And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.” 1 Kings 16:25 and 30 English Standard Version

We are all copycats at some time or another. For those of you who are parents, you have undoubtedly experienced a time when your child has copied something that you have done. You ask them, “where did you learn that?” When they point their finger back at you, you might have felt amused or embarrassed.

Then there are siblings who either copy each other because they want to be like the other (usually older) sibling, or because they know that it will get on the nerves of their sibling. You could expand this to a national, even global scale. Whole countries, and cultures, look to others and think, “we should be more like that country,” or, “that country should be more like ours.”

This behavior is natural to human beings, who are learning alongside one another how to live life. It can be good, and it can be devastating. Ultimately, we are supposed to live under the authority and direction of God, but we rejected that authority in an attempt to become our own gods. We are all imperfect, but we can still leave either a positive, or negative, impact for generations to come.

Omri set the example for his son Ahab, one of the worst kings to ever rule Israel. Ahab walked in his father’s footsteps, and then went even further. A chapter earlier we learn that Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father David had.

Your example matters…not to salvation, as we are saved by grace through faith alone, but rather it matters to raise generations that live under the grace of God…generations that fear God above all else.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO