| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor” Our Bible verse for today: “In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz of Judah began to reign … Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after him.” 2 Kings 18:1;8 (NIV) Our thought for today: “We learn from bad examples too” Sometimes bad examples become something of a generational curse in families. We see it over and over again. Grandma lived on welfare, mother lived on welfare, now the adult grandchildren live on welfare. Or, the father was a violent criminal who spent years in prison, then his son was a violent criminal who is currently in prison, and now the son’s son is a gang member terrorizing the neighborhood and surely headed for prison himself. We see the same kinds of patterns or cycles played out in families with respect to drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, and much more. It’s a cycle, a generational curse that gets passed along from generation to generation until finally, somebody breaks the chain. Someone finally decides that life is going to be different for him or her, and they make an intentional decision to break the chain. Hezekiah was one of the greatest and godliest kings of ancient Judah but interestingly, he was raised by one of the worst and least godly kings, his father Ahaz. The example set for Hezekiah by his father was one of paganism, debauchery, and even human sacrifice. But when Hezekiah became an adult and ascended to the throne, he determined to be the exact opposite of his father. As a result, Hezekiah became a shining example of godly leadership. Throughout this month of devotionals regarding the influence of a mentor, we have considered many lessons we can learn from the good example of a good mentor. But it’s also true that we can learn from bad examples, just like Hezekiah did. We can observe someone else’s bad conduct, note the negative impacts they experience from that bad conduct, and make a decision that our own life will be different. I encourage you to spend some time today considering the people in your life who have in the past, or who are now, setting bad examples. Pray for those people, and then resolve that you won’t be like them. God bless, Pastor Jim |
| Copyright © 2022 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 