Like Father Like Son

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

1 Kings 15:1-10

15:1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, 2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.   3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. 4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. 5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD's commands all the days of his life — except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. 6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout [Abijah's] lifetime. 7 As for the other events of Abijah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as king. 9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

NIV

Is this a case of like father, like son? Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, committed all the sins his father had done before him. We are told that his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD, his God, as his forefather David had been. There will be some kings that do what is right in the eyes of the LORD, but for now, we are with this son who was just like his father. This could be our story. We all have had earthly fathers, and some of us sons may take after our father in some way, while others find another path in life, yet our genetics still follow some pattern from our father. Some sons are fortunate to have had an earthly father who loved the Lord and brought his sons up in the ways of the Lord. Other sons had fathers who did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. However, in whatever situation we sons have been raised in, we still had to make our own choice to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, or reject Jesus and do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. For those sons who decided to follow Jesus, they are adopted into the family of God and become sons of God. We are now back to that principle of like Father, like son. Of course, the daughter would fall under all the same plan as sons, but because we are with the son of Rehoboam, we speak of ourselves as children or sons of God. The question is whether we are like our Father. Have we taken on the qualities of our Heavenly Father? As a child of an Earthly father, we watched him, loved him, and wanted to be around him. Some may not have had that kind of experience and did not want to be like their father, but wanted something different in life. But once we have been adopted into the family of God, our Father wants us to be just like him, and that is our desire as well. We want to imitate our Father. We want to do what is right in his eyes. We may fail at times, as all men have, even David, in the case of Uriah, yet God still testified that he found a man who would do everything God commanded him to do, that he was a man after God’s own heart. That is our desire is to be known as a son who is after his Father’s own heart. We want to be like our Father.