Our Character Often Revealed in Our Children

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. Genesis 37:3.
Jacob had chosen the inheritance of faith. He had endeavored to obtain it by craft, treachery, and falsehood; but God had permitted his sin to work out its correction…. The sin of Jacob, and the train of events to which it led, had not failed to exert an influence for evil—an influence that revealed its bitter fruit in the character and life of his sons….
There was one, however, of a widely different character—the elder son of Rachel, Joseph, whose rare personal beauty seemed but to reflect an inward beauty of mind and heart…. He listened to his father’s instructions, and loved to obey God…. His mother being dead, his affections clung the more closely to the father, and Jacob’s heart was bound up in this child of his old age….
But even this affection was to become a cause of trouble and sorrow. Jacob unwisely manifested his preference for Joseph, and this excited the jealousy of his other sons…. The father’s injudicious gift to Joseph of a costly coat, or tunic, such as was usually worn by persons of distinction, seemed to them another evidence of his partiality…. Their malice was still further increased as the boy one day told them of a dream that he had had….
As the lad stood before his brothers, his beautiful countenance lighted up with the Spirit of Inspiration, they could not withhold their admiration; but they did not choose to renounce their evil ways, and they hated the purity that reproved their sins….
The brothers were obliged to move from place to place to secure pasturage for their flocks…. Some time passed, bringing no tidings from them, and the father began to fear for their safety…. He therefore sent Joseph to find them, and bring him word as to their welfare….
Joseph came on, unsuspicious of danger …; but instead of the expected greeting, he was terrified by the angry and revengeful glances he met…. He was seized and his coat stripped from him…. Rudely dragging him to a deep pit, they thrust him in, and having made sure that there was no possibility of his escape, they left him there to perish from hunger, while they “sat down to eat bread.”
But some of them were ill at ease; they did not feel the satisfaction they had anticipated from their revenge. Soon a company of travelers was seen approaching.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 208-211.
Christ Triumphant p. 91
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for Mary who is on vacation and has had a possible stroke. She is in the hospital for tests. Pray that God will give the doctor wisdom to know how to treat her. Rose
—–Please pray for my youngest son for a hedge of protection to be around him and for his eternal salvation. Connie
—–Please pray for D who is having medical tests on Wednesday. R
—–My husband is ill. Please pray for him his name is Steve. Heather
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Dear Friends,
One day, when my mother was a teenager, my grandmother sent her to the mailbox to mail a letter. The mailbox was three blocks away. Van Avery’s drug store was on that corner and my mother decided to take her little change purse and buy some little treat as a reward for going.
As she walked along, she began to daydream. Before long she had arrived at her destination and absentmindedly mailed the letter—and—her purse! Just as she closed the mail chute, she realized what she had done. She went inside the drugstore and asked Mrs. Van Avery what she should do. My mother was very distraught, and the storekeeper tried to comfort her.
Finally, my mother went home. My grandmother was not pleased, but she had an idea. “Geneva,” she said, “You are just going to have to go back to the mailbox and wait for the mailman.” When it was near the pickup time, she stood beside that mailbox. She got very tired of standing there. As she waited, she was tempted to go into the store and look around, but she knew that she might miss the mailman. Then she would never get her purse.
After what seemed like an eternity, the mailman arrived! Blushing with humiliation, my mother asked him to find her change purse amidst all the letters. He couldn’t help smiling at this teenage girl standing before him. He told her not to be embarrassed, because he often had to retrieve things a lot stranger than a change purse out of mailboxes.
Just as my mother waited for the mailman, so we are to wait for Jesus’ coming. Just as she resisted the temptation to go into the store and look at all the pretty figurines that Mrs. Van Avery had, or go to the soda fountain and talk to the neighbor boy who worked there; so we should not allow the things of this world to get our mind off our ultimate goal.
Jesus is coming soon! “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” Rev 1:7 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess 4:16,17 “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be….And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors….Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” Matt 24:27,31-33,44-47
Jesus made a statement that causes us to think, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8 Let us determine that He will find us faithful, for He promises, “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Rev 2:10 Let us endure unto the end for He has said, “he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matt 10:22 “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:35-37
Rose