Today’s Readings
Context
What kind of "religion" do we have? Is it primarily a series of rules that are meant to be followed, a lifestyle to be lived? Is it a theology to be understood, a mental exercise? Is Christianity a set of rituals and liturgies that we perform?
In one sense, it is all of these - there are guidelines for life, there is biblical theology that must be understood, and we worship and baptize and observe the Lord's Supper. But in another sense, our faith is none of these. It is about encountering the Living God and being transformed by that encounter.
In today's readings, we see how Jacob, the deceiver and schemer, encountered God and was transformed to become a new person. That's the God we serve. That's the faith we practice.
In one sense, it is all of these - there are guidelines for life, there is biblical theology that must be understood, and we worship and baptize and observe the Lord's Supper. But in another sense, our faith is none of these. It is about encountering the Living God and being transformed by that encounter.
In today's readings, we see how Jacob, the deceiver and schemer, encountered God and was transformed to become a new person. That's the God we serve. That's the faith we practice.
Devotional - Changed
One of the fundamental assertions of modern pop-psychology is that people don't really change. You are what you are and that is what you always will be. An alcoholic may be able to stop drinking, but he remains an alcoholic to the end of his days. It is assumed that people's sexual desires are hard-wired into them and to ask people to change is unfair, even cruel.
There is a very different message in the pages of Scripture. When people come into contact with the living God, their lives are radically changed. Ever noticed how often someone who came to know God was renamed by the Father? Abram became Abraham. Saul became Paul. And in Genesis 35:10, God gives a new name to Jacob. It is a significant change.
Jacob was a troubled man with a troubled name. His name meant "deceiver" and that is exactly what Jacob was. He was a schemer, tricking his father and his brother. This was not a good man.
But God does not look simply at what a man is; he looks at what he intends to make him. God got a hold on Jacob and he became a new man. Since a new man needs a new name, God gave him one. The new name was Israel. God was working out his new purpose in this man's life and the new name referred to the triumph of God's will that now prevailed in his life. Jacob was a new man and needed a new name.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that in Christ we are “new creations” and that the old is gone, replaced by the new work that God in doing in our hearts. In Christ, I do not have to be today what I was yesterday and I do not have to be tomorrow what I am today. I can change in Christ.
God is in the business of giving new names to his children. The drunk gets called by a new name – sober. The pervert can become pure. Those who live to indulge their sinful natures can walk in self-control. It can happen - not because of me but because of the God I serve, the One who makes all things new.
Lord, I thank you for your life-changing and renewing power. Because of you, I do not have to be tomorrow what I was yesterday. You are the name-changer, the life-transformer. I rely on your power and strength to become tomorrow what I am not today.
Think and Pray
What changes is God making in your life right now?
Is your faith a set of rules, a theology, or a set of rituals and liturgies alone, or it is, at it's heart, an encounter with the God of Heaven?
Is your faith a set of rules, a theology, or a set of rituals and liturgies alone, or it is, at it's heart, an encounter with the God of Heaven?
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