A Happy Scripture Reading “Coincidence”
My family and I are taking a few minutes most mornings to read some Scripture before we all head out the door. (We read the designated passages individually, but then spend a few more minutes discussing it together and praying over it.) It’s part of an effort to do what we can to keep ourselves oriented in a Godward direction rather than lapsing into the natural orientation of centering life around our individual selves.
This morning my two sons read Matthew 4. My wife and I also read Matthew 4, but also read Genesis 4 and Psalm 4. After reading about Jesus’ temptation (which he successfully resisted) in Matthew 4, and then noticing how Jesus went on to call two sets of brothers to be his disciples, and then reading in Genesis 4 where Cain was tempted and eventually killed his brother, I couldn’t help but ask my two sons to also read Genesis 4 for comparison.
Since I usually take the boys to school on my way into the office each morning, it gave me a few minutes to draw my two sons’ attention to the comparison/contrast of Matthew 4 and Genesis 4 (the two temptations; the different sets of brothers; the two outcomes). It was one of the many happy Scripture reading “coincidences” one will come across during the regular reading of Scripture. I took just a minute this morning to let my sons know that it’s my hope and prayer for them that they follow Christ with their lives (like Peter and Andrew, and James and John in Matthew 4) so that they can experience the power of God’s grace in their relationships instead of ending up like the brothers in Genesis 4. Since sin is in pursuit of us just like it was pursuing Cain (God warned him), apart from walking with Christ (he overcame sin’s temptation for us) we will invariably and inevitably “kill” our relationships of the closest kind.
Read some Scripture today. The Bible may not yield profound insights each time you read it, but if you don’t keep at it it never will.
(ps: if you want to follow the Bible reading program my family and I are on this year, you can find it here)
