Genesis 5:9-11. Growing Quick at a Cost

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Genesis 5:9-11 “And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.”

Enos decided to be more speedy than his progenitors when it came to starting a family, and had his first son at age ninety, fifteen years younger than Seth was when he had his first child. It seems that not even near-millennium lifespans were long enough to keep people from feeling urgency to hurry! Was it just subconscious, or did Enos intentionally try to set a new record and be the first to have a child before hitting one hundred? 

After the birth of Cainan, Enos lived another eight hundred and fifteen years, eight years longer than Seth lived after the birth of his firstborn. But what he gained in years of family life he also lost from the potential total of his lifespan, living seven years less than Seth, and twenty-five fewer years than his grandfather Adam. 

Being in a hurry to do anything may yield some advantages, but it can also result in significant losses, at least in the long run. That is true when it comes to forming a family, too, whether it be the nuclear family or the larger spiritual family of the church. May God help us practice patient persistence and punctual consistency in building up the church of God, rather than pushing for rapid growth at the expense of strength and health. 

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Ezra James
The Word of God is bread from heaven. God sent it, but we must gather it, appreciate it, digest it, and live by it. These days it is increasingly scarce. Many are starving for it and don't know it because they keep feasting on bad bread that doesn't satisfy. But if we would learn to carefully gather up the fragments of the True, Heavenly Bread of Life, we would always enjoy a feast of crumbs, because even God's crumbs are miracles mighty to save (Mark 7:24-30). ESPAÑOL: La Palabra de Dios es pan del cielo. Dios lo envió, pero debemos recogerlo, apreciarlo, digerirlo y vivir por él. Hoy en día es cada vez más escaso. Muchos están muriendo de hambre por falta de él sin saberlo porque se alimentan de pan falso que no satisface. Pero si aprendiéramos a recoger cuidadosamente los fragmentos del Verdadero Pan Celestial, Pan de Vida, siempre disfrutaríamos de un banquete de migajas, porque hasta las migajas de Dios son milagros poderosos para salvar (Marcos 7:24-30).