You are infecting others, but with what?
2Samuel 13-15 / Luke 21-22
OT
13:1-3 David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible that he could ever fulfill his love for her. Now Amnon had a very crafty friend–his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea.
NT
21:1-4 While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. “I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.“
OT Flash Points
David was a man after God’s own heart, but passed little of that on to his family
A product of the culture and neglect as a father, the men seem very remote from their sons, leaving the raising to their mothers
The mothers then were passing on their parent’s beliefs and an aggression for power
Those women were in constant competition for position by merit of their child-bearing and influence through their sons
This cultural dynamic seems most to blame for the vacillating spiritual nature of the generations
But David, as with all fathers, can not stand guiltless, for our priesthood to the family is God’s order and our identification is servant of God
David’s family began to emerge as his most destructive enemy after he had subdued the neighboring nations
God had told David that would be the result of his sin of lust, then adultery, then murder
NT Flash Points
The value of a gift is not its face value but its relative value
Sacrifice is the nature of true love, giving, honesty, virtue, patience, forgiveness
Perspective
Taking pleasure in something is infectious
What do you take pleasure in?
You are infecting others with that