Greetings brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ!
I hope this email finds you living in the grace of our Lord and walking in His ways and that you are looking forward to a blessed Father’s Day.Father’s Day is time to honor our dads if they are still among us, but how do we define what it means to be a dad?
I put up the Bible Factor podcast a little early and give my opinion of what a biblical view might look like.
The scripture reading this week is called Korach (קורח | Korah) because that is the first Hebrew word of the reading found in Numbers 16:1-18:32. Other reading to get us though the bible this year include, 1 Samuel 11:14-12:22 and Luke 18:35-19:28.
The story of Korach’s rebellion is a story of rebellion against the Lord not Moses. Korach desired the office of the high priest because he desired the prestige and the respect that came with it.The Lord had commanded that only the sons of Aaron, Moses’ brother, could hold the office. Other sons of Levi, such as Korach, were to assist the priests but they were not to become priests themselves.
We often desire to be something different than what the Lord created us to be, and we certainly see the world encouraging people to become what they are not in direct rebellion to God.Consider several stories we have seen in recent days.
There is growing support for the so-called transgender movement, from Bruce Jenner to a young 18 year old have surgery to change from male to female (at least as far as the parts go). There was even an uproar over a woman in Washington state who ran the local NAACP chapter, claiming to be black but really white. She claimed to be “transracial”.
People are created equal before God and the law but we are not the same. The Lord gave us differences in gender, ethnic background, status and so on. These differences are neither good nor bad but of what make us who we are.Yet, there is often a desire to tell the Creator that He was mistaken in how we were created.
You see this in small ways like a shorter person wearing shoes to make them appear taller, a dark haired person dying their hair lighter and so on.Korach took this too far when he told Moses that he took too much power for himself by giving commandments and restrictions. Restrictions on who could be a priest was the great contention he had with Moses.
The Lord saw it differently. He saw Korach’s rebellion as questioning the Lord Himself and His authority over the children of Israel. The same is true of us. When we decide that we are something different than what God made us or that we don’t like the differences in others, we rebel against God.
We saw the worst example of this in Charleston, South Carolina. A young man twisted by his hatred of so-called races other than his own, took it upon himself to execute 9 Christians having a bible study simply because of their ethnicity.
He blames races other than whites for the problems of the world but we should understand that this man’s thinking is far from right. The problems of this world find their source in the embracing of sin and the rejection of the ways of God.
We may see pockets of sin, crime and immorality in a particular community but it not a problem of ethnicity, it is a family problem. With the breakdown of the family and fathers abandoning their roles to their children, generations are being taught that they are not responsible for their actions but to blame others.
Which brings us back to Korach.
Korach led his family into rebellion. He drew other Levites and several other tribes within Israel to reject the commands of God and demand his own way.
Dads this Father’s Day should consider the impact they have on their children for good or evil. From fathers involved in their kids lives to those who are absent, dads influence the type of people their children will become.
That is the challenge laid at our feet. What kind of influence are we having on the next generation? Is it for good or evil?