Advice to a son who is a father

¹³ Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew…

¹⁴ Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.  (Genesis 14:13-14)

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Son, I was reading in Genesis today about the story of the kings who went to war and how Lot was taken captive. Two things stood out…

First, I noticed that it was only unto someone came and told Abraham that he learned about the major war that had occurred nearby (Genesis 14:1-12)

• Lesson: Ignore the news, if it is important for you to know something, someone will tell you. Otherwise, spend you time taking care of the things God has put into your hands.
• Or put another way: Make news, don’t waste your time listening to other people’s opinions about what is news.

Second, I noticed that when the time came for Abraham to “make news” (go out to war to rescue his nephew, Lot) that he was ready – he had “trained servants who were born in his own house.”

• Lesson: Son, you too have people who have been born in your own house – not servants – but you own precious children. There are many things you can do and there are some duties you must do, but there are a few things that only you can do.
• One of those few things is training those born in your household to be prepared for the challenges and battles of life. That, dear son, is the great task of all fathers. Let nothing take you away from that noble task.