Jesus, the perfect man, could have defended Himself on any false accusations against Him. After all, not only did He never sin, His only purpose for coming to this world was to take away our sins. He could have easily made an impassionate speech about His heart’s desire for people, His upcoming great sacrifice for them, & their need to accept and receive Him.

If I had done anything that resembled any level of sacrifice on behalf of others, I would like for them not only to appreciate my sacrifice but more so not to squander the sacrifice!! I would want them to make a good use of the gift I have given them.

The amazing thing about our God is that He gives us the greatest gift, which is an eternal life with Him, but He doesn’t try to sell it to us. Jesus does not try to convince us that we need it, or make us feel guilty for not accepting it. While the world tries to get our attention every which way on what a great product it has to offer us and how it can solve so many of our problems, none of its advertisement has any lasting substance.

In great contrast, Jesus calmly, quietly, and confidently offers us the gift of salvation, joy, hope, and eternal life, and then He takes a step back. He basically tells us that when you are ready to receive the gift, let me know. I’ll come to you and will make a covenant with you, but until then you can choose to live without me and without my gifts. My arms are wide open, but the door of your heart will not be open until you are ready for a true change!!

Jesus had complete confidence and security in His relationship with the father. He was willing to go to the cross without the guarantee of how many people will be willing to accept this gift. He didn’t question if it was worth it. He didn’t question if His life was getting wasted for a bunch of ignorant and unappreciative people. He chose to love, He chose to give, and He chose to rest in God’s love for Him knowing that the father is pleased with Him regardless of the results.

Are you confident in your relationship with the heavenly father today?

Are you willing to serve Him and give generously of yourself regardless of if someone appreciates it or not? Do you believe your reward is with Him and that the world’s acknowledgement of your sacrifice does not matter? Do you find it difficult not to defend yourself when falsely accused?

Today, make a decision to commit yourself to Him who judges righteously.

Since Jesus has made us free, why would a freed man, in his right mind, want to be yoked to bondage again? That’s the million dollar question!!

The scripture tell us:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1

Bondage: a state of being bound usually by compulsion (as of law or mastery):

There are many definitions for the word “free”, but here are the relevant ones to the subject at hand:

Free: enjoying personal freedom; not subject to the control or domination of another; not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being; choosing or capable of choosing for itself; not united with, attached to, combined with, or mixed with something else

 Are we in bondage to something? Many of us can get offended by this question, but it is an important question to ask.

What does bondage look like? It could be an addiction to a substance where it has gained mastery over you. It could be a relationship with someone that has become so important, all other relationships are defined or perceived in the light of this particular relationship. It could be someone having so much control over your mind and your emotions that basically they define who you are, and the most important concern you have is, “what does this person think of me?” It could be money, status, or position where you can’t imagine life without it because it makes you feel important or significant.

The thought of being yoked to bondage for most believers would be a crazy idea, one which most people would be appalled. Why would anyone in their right mind want to do such a foolish and sad thing!?

You see the enemy entices us with what looks good and with what we desire in our hearts. What throws  us into bondage  are those things that we long for and have an affection for that continue to trap us, bait us,  & entangle us. We move towards them because they offer us something. They offer importance, significance, popularity, status, & acceptance.

The enemy is very subtle. He gives us a taste of what we desire. That allows us to feel important, popular, or significant, but what we don’t see is that there is a high price tag attached to these desires. The longer we go in a certain direction we get less satisfaction, which in turn makes us want to do more to get the effect we used to get. Now we are in bondage to something or someone!! We are addicted to a certain action or a certain person. We are no longer in control, but we are at the mercy of whatever has given us meaning and satisfaction. We can’t imagine life without it, but life with it has a lot of labor, tribulation and slavery. We find ourselves stuck. We can’t hear the Lord clearly. We’re not sure if we even want to. We see no way out of this mess. There doesn’t seem to be a way out!!

What we should pray for is that the bondage would not give us satisfaction at all, but only pain!! Only pain has a way of motivating us to back off, walk away, move on, change direction, and it weans us from the created and allows us to focus on the Creator. Even if it is grudgingly at first, that’s ok. We are always in a better place with the Lord than without him.

“Without Him”, you ask,

“What do you mean?  I have been walking with God this whole time! I’ve actually been doing my work for Him. How can I be without Him?”

It’s because the bondage has caused the Lord not to be at the center of your life. You don’t have the intimacy with the Lord you had before. You are confused. You’ve lost your convictions. There are compromises. There are justifications for your actions, but the tenderness of heart and feeling are lost. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is far off. It’s easier to notice other people’s issues and shortcomings rather than your own. You are so bound by the bondage that everything is seen in the light of it.

The yoke must go!! Cry, wail, pray and ask God to do whatever is necessary for this yoke to be cut off. You are imprisoned and you don’t even know it. You cannot see what the Lord wants you to see. This is an ungodly yoke. There is a form of godliness but the joy and the life of godliness is lost. You must come out and see the spacious land before you. You must see the abundance of the sea turned to you when you walk in His will. Praise God for Jesus’ blood that cuts any chain and yoke of bondage!!

Anything we desire or think we need cannot compare to walking freely with Jesus!! We cannot be afraid of the consequence of letting go of our bondage. The Lord will fill the emptiness, the loneliness, and the unworthiness you feel. He is your portion. Believe this and start taking steps to get freed up from whatever that has held you in its bondage. Pray for the Lord’s help and strategy for how to get freed up. He will show you what to do and He will give you the grace, provision and protection to do it.

The hidden seed becomes the visible plant

 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.Mark 4:26-28

Many times we look at our spiritual growth as if we are trying to get a college education!! We think that we have to determine where we’re at and have a plan to get to a certain level of spiritual maturity. The scripture doesn’t describe the process that way at all. The above scripture tells us clearly that the man was just doing life and the seed was growing. God is at work. He doesn’t need us to be self-conscious of our growth. This can just cause strife or worry unnecessarily. If you want to see the growth of a seed while under the ground, you have to move the dirt to see the growth which undermines the work that’s already been done on the seed.

Patience and trust are the key ingredients for this phase of the seed development, as well as with our spiritual growth. We can’t despise the day of small beginnings. Then, one day you see something sprouting out of the ground. It will look small, tender and weak, but over time as you nurture this little plant it will grow and become strong.  Someday it will even bear fruit. Even a baby in her mother’s womb grows without her mother knowing how the growth is occurring. The Lord has put the process in place.

Just like a patient farmer there is much work still left to be done in order for a seed to grow and become a healthy and fruitful plant. What is exciting about this is that the little seed that was previously needy and helpless, dependent on its environment, can now grow into a strong and healthy plant independent of its environment. This plant will always be in need of nourishment, water, and the sun, but it will become less dependent on the conditions of its environment because the roots are stronger and have gone deeper. Now the plant itself is strong and can find food regardless of the storms, drought, high or low temperatures in its environment. This is when we become strong believers and mature sons and daughters of the Most High. While we will always be vulnerable to the people and circumstances around us, we will be less shaken by them as we grow stronger and get deeper roots in Him.

We need to be willing to stay hidden in the Lord while He is working and growing us. Many times after we give up a lifestyle of sin the change in our life may not be visible. To most people the change may not be immediately noticed because God is doing an internal work to sanctify and mature us. These are the hard years. There is no glory in them, and sometimes it feels like there is no end to them. However, the more we appreciate those years and allow them to work in us, the more we will get out of the season. We have to remind ourselves this will not last forever, but it is a God-ordained season of hidden growth that has great purpose for the overall health of our walk with Him. Joseph, David, and even Paul had to go through the hidden years, but what they accomplished in their visible years far outweighed the years they were hidden.

Do you feel hidden in this season of your life? Are you allowing the Lord to do His good work in this season? Or are you anxiously waiting to come out of this season? Take your concerns and your heart’s desire to the Lord and ask Him to give you the grace and the patience  necessary to stay hidden at this point.

The Lord’s creation speaks beautifully on how He works on us spiritually.

Let’s look at the below scripture describing a “seed”:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:24 

The Seed must be dead and dry

Even in the best of soils there is something significant that needs to happen to a seed in order for it to grow and bear fruit. The seed must be dry and dead to become ripe for fruitfulness. In our natural or spiritual world we like to see ourselves successful. We don’t want to be “dry and dead”. That’s not pretty, or popular. However, the work of the Lord moves more powerfully and effectively in the ashes and unpopular moments of our lives.

When we are at a place we see our spiritual poverty, the flesh is weakened to the point of not feeling glorious. Emotions are worn out to the point of feeling like, I am nothing, and have no potential. We are completely weak! We have reached a point of feeling dead and dry in ourselves. The scripture tells us that in our weakness He is strong.

Do we need to be weak for God to be strong? No! God is always strong and powerful, but pride gives us a fictitious feeling of well-being. In those moments when good things are happening we credit ourselves for being great, ingenious, and wonderful. But when we are weak we truly have a good estimation of ourselves. This is not a place we like to stay for a very long time because it doesn’t feel good, but this is the place of God’s presence and glory.

The outer shell is broken

Now the outer shell of a seed needs to be broken before it can grow and attach itself to the soil around it. When our outer shell is broken, we are more tender and humble. We are in a place of being penetrated easier.  We are less concerned about what people think of us and more concerned what God wants to do.

This is the seed of life that looks dry, and dead, but has the greatest potential for life. When the seed is planted in the ground, it is watered and the sun hits it, breaking the outer shell. We are afraid of being broken. We like to think of brokenness as pre-Jesus days, and just share it as a nice testimony of yester years. I don’t see that anywhere in the Bible. Once God gets a hold of a person‘s heart, then the true process of brokenness begins. In our past life we were broken because of sin and rebellion.  This time we are broken for the purpose of showing God’s glory.

 The germination begins

Jesus has deposited himself in us, and the light of Jesus is under the bushel of our soul and body, and unless we are broken of ourselves, His light will stay hidden. Once a seed germinates something profound begins to happen.  Germination needs to grab hold of the dirt around the seed, soak up the food and water to grow. The sustenance inside the seed is only for a short time until it helps reach the next phase of growth. This transition must happen or the seed will die. It cannot live on its own but it is dependent on its environment to live and be successful. The deeper the root the greater likelihood of producing a healthy plant. There will be days of invisibility while the seed grows underground and takes root, not showing, on the surface. That’s how you want it though. You must trust that something is happening even when you don’t see it!!!

In the next devotional, I’ll discuss the next phase of the growing seed.

Do you want to be a better lover of the Lord and of people? The scripture below gives us a solution to a mature love.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:17-19

Perfect love casts out fear. The question is what are you afraid of? In those places that fear has a grip, I need the Lord’s perfect love to give me assurance that He is with me. This could be in areas that I have closed myself off to new ideas or revelation.

Sometimes we use our childhood as a reason for not believing or trusting God. We do this because we believe we didn’t have the perfect earthly example. This is an excuse that keeps us in agreement with what happened to us in the past. If Jesus has made us new, it means our past is the past and should not have the power or control that it had on us when we didn’t know Him. He can even give us a new understanding or a new perspective on the past.

Did you know the most important agreement you will ever make is to stay loyal to your covenant with the Lord? If anything comes to compete with that relationship, it must be moved and placed in its proper place. I can’t withhold things against the Lord. If I do, those will be the places that I will not trust Him in my life. I have to live a life of surrender and have a child like faith. I must allow Him to wash my feet when they get dirty with the issues of life. I want to always have a part with Him. I cannot be at odds with my Jesus, or sooner or later it will surface in one form or another.  I need to keep my heart tender. I need to believe Him when He speaks to me and take what He says seriously. It’s not optional! I must listen carefully to His leading.

Many times the fear of the unknown or the fear of getting hurt again keeps us in the bondage of not loving. The scripture tells us:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. (1John 3:14)

Love produces life, but if we don’t love we stay in death. Isn’t that powerful!? So many times we just want to do more for God, but what God is looking for is for us to do everything with love in our hearts for God and one another. It is the quality of what we give of ourselves that matters to God. Love is the precious metal that when the test of time and fiery trials come, it lasts. Love cannot get burned up. Love will continue to speak and change lives because it is the seed of life.

Fear tries to justify why it can’t love. It screams about the injustice or the hypocrisy. It points fingers at others and places the blame on somebody else. Perfect love changes us and puts us in a giving position with our arms wide open. Love is generous. It has a big heart. It doesn’t take things personally. Love knows what she offers is good, so she doesn’t apologize for it. She doesn’t doubt that what she gives is good. She doesn’t let the enemy accuse her or condemn her of not giving enough or not doing it right. Love doesn’t expect perfection from others but wants to be perfected.

Love is a pursuer and is not afraid of rejection. Perfect love wants to reach and pursue others. It looks for what it can encourage. It doesn’t look for lack. It doesn’t expect a return. It doesn’t take things personally.

The Lord wants to stop the torment by believing in His love, and in the process we become His agents of love to a world that is tormented by guilt and shame. We must face our fears. There is no other way to grow in love unless we deal with our fears.

“Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name); Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:2-3

Generally, when we see a verse like the one above, we are excited that as we ask God to show us great and mighty things, He is willing to open our spiritual eyes and give us the things we are looking for.

However, verse 2 is critical to meditate on before we move into verse 3. The Lord reminds us of His name. When the Lord spoke to His prophets such as Moses, He didn’t come with His resume` and a list of qualifications, to prove His idea would work. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh, Moses asked God a question. Let’s take a look at Exodus 3:13-14.

“Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”  And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Instead of the Lord trying to prove to Moses and the Israelites who He was, He declared Himself as the “I AM”. This is the all encompassment of who God is, which is so much more profound and deeper than any man can comprehend. All truth, all knowledge, all power, & all insight belong to Him. He is the God who has formed all things, and the past, present, and the future belong to Him; man only continues to learn and discover what the Lord put in place thousands of years ago.

When we look at the book of Genesis, we find that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. His knowledge came from his intimacy with God. He knew God and Adam had knowledge of how to live right because he was in relationship with the Lord of the universe. His knowledge was relational. The sin in the Garden of Eden brought about a curse. The curse was that we lost the privilege of fully knowing the Lord and being in relationship with Him. The curse also caused us to know things which we didn’t need to know.

We were born to know God and walk with Him, but when sin entered the world, doubt and unbelief entered the heart of man. As a result we entertained thoughts and actions apart from the will of God. Our eyes were opened to various possibilities of evil which defiled us and caused us to walk in sin. When sin entered our hearts, it caused us to become survival oriented and self focused rather than God focused. As a result we had a breakdown in our relationship with the God. Man became insecure. Sin also became a slave master that we had to either live under or try to overcome.

The majority of the years we walk with God has one of two characteristics. We are either asking Him to intervene in our lives and our circumstances, or we are asking Him to show us how to be useful in His kingdom.  As a result, if we allow ourselves, we can have a tendency to focus on what our natural eyes see, and our prayers become shallow prayers for God to save us in a situation.

As Jeremiah 33 reminds us, the essence of our relationship with God is to call out to Him and He will show us great and mighty things. Those great and might things could be; a) God’s wisdom and counsel for a tough situation at work, b) His protective power over you, c) a new understanding for a person who has been difficult to love,  d)His acceptance of you in the midst of opposition, and a whole host of other revelations that He desires for you. We come to Him calling out to Him inviting Him to reveal Himself.

The more we have a revelation of the “I AM”, the more settled we are with the circumstances of our lives. Unless the issue of knowing the “I AM” is continually part of our prayers, we will be addicted to a lifestyle of looking at what He can do for us, and using Him as our butler and missing out on knowing Him as our LORD. When we continue to seek Him for the” I AM” He is, He will show us great and mighty things because that is part of His nature. If we ask the right question, He will gladly reveal and expose what He desires so much to give us. How does your prayer life look? Do the majority of your prayers revolve around seeking His hand in your life? Or are you seeking His face and to know the “I AM”?

Would you rather be a follower or a leader?

In our American culture being a follower is looked down upon. We usually associate followers with those who can’t think for themselves or they just want to fit it. On the other hand, we greatly esteem being a leader and encourage our children and others to strive to be a leader. Even the church culture values gifted, capable, articulate people and thinks of them as future leaders.

I wonder if that is why a lot of churches struggle with having people serve in various ministries, because people are looking for a leadership position!! Interesting!! Unfortunately, this is not Christianity according to Jesus but it’s American Christianity.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Matthew 16:24

According to the above scripture, the true believers should be known as followers. We follow and we serve all the days of our lives. The tasks, capacities, or positions we hold will vary over the years, but in whatever capacity we are, we are called to follow Christ and serve the people. Christians don’t follow because they are weak or can’t think for themselves. They follow because they have relinquished their own pride, understanding, charisma, and they have surrendered it all to the cross. When the world looks at a believer, they should see a man or a woman of God who is following the Lord. These individuals don’t speak for themselves, they’re not proud, and they don’t lord it over the people. They only speak, act, or do, because they are representing their King.

If we are going to follow Jesus we must take up our cross. So many of us want to follow Jesus but instead of taking up our cross we take up our past experiences, past career, education, and notoriety as to ensure people know we were somebody before I knew Jesus!!! Well, if you were somebody before you knew Jesus why didn’t you stay the way you were? The sheer fact that you chose to follow Jesus should be an indication that you being somebody wasn’t good enough to keep even yourself impressed! This does not mean that having a title, or position is bad, but  it is a problem if it is your identity. So if you chose to follow Jesus then why aren’t you laying down all the worldly recognitions? Do you want to ensure that if you are not recognized as somebody in His kingdom you have something to fall back on? Isn’t that called double-mindedness? We esteem people with worldly success, and so when they accept Jesus we treat them as if they have done Jesus a favor!

We are leaders when we submit to Jesus and lead a life that sets the proper example first for our families and then for others. However, when being a leader becomes an issue of title or identity, then it’s time to slow down and re-evaluate our priorities. There is a great chance that we have developed a false sense of security and identity. Jesus called us to be His disciples and follow Him while taking up our cross which means die to our own ideas of self significance and identity. Follow Him!!! Being a great follower of Jesus allows us the privilege to set the right example for others but because we are carrying our cross while following Jesus we are in a great place of humility and surrender. The focus is not on us; it is on Him.

Let’s instill this in our children that they are called to be followers of Christ. If they pursue this, the Lord will develop them to be good leaders in their sphere of influence.

It is amazing and very freeing when we get Jesus’ Perspective on our lives.  As I was listening to the Lord and asking Him to speak to me, I just suddenly had a revelation. Almost everyday,  at some point during the day, I think about fulfilling my purpose. Unfortunately, many times, I walk away thinking that I am not utilizing my time or my life well. But this morning, I started thinking, is Jesus worried about my life? Is he concerned about my purpose in life? If He is not, and I don’t think that He is then why am I worried?

This is what Jesus says about worry in the following scriptures:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day [is] its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

The word “worry” in this context means: to be anxious, to be troubled with cares, to seek to promote one’s interests.

First of all, Jesus has it all under control. I trust Him with my life. Secondly, the Lord is the one who has given me this life anyway. He is the one who has called me to Himself, so He must have a plan. I don’t need to be concerned or remind the Lord about my life or my purpose. He is the one who has His interests and mine in mind. Even if I decided to worry, can I even add a day to my life ?

Will it not just steal the joy and the peace of the day to think about something that I have no control over? Isn’t it a counterfeit to think that by worrying we can change things in our lives? When we trust Him, that is when the real change occurs and we stop worrying. The most important and sure change is that we settle down from striving. It makes us humble to trust Him and not know the future!!

In Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus is telling us that we should learn from Him. It means the world system has taught us something that is not of Him, but if we are going to walk with Him, we need to learn from Him. We cannot pour His truth and His spirit in the old wineskins. There is a huge conflict between the world system and the Lord’s system. We cannot reason with the world system, but then trust the Lord’s system.

If we are going to be genuine Christians who are experiencing the benefits of the kingdom, we must let go of the old ways of reasoning. We cannot hold on to our perspective and then plead with Jesus to enter our perspective. He wants us to get His perspective on our lives and our situations. Chances are the majority of our thoughts are not His thoughts.

We need to let go of our thoughts, our opinions, and the culture’s voice and start asking the Lord to put his thoughts in our minds. For example, if you are a stay at home Mom, the culture does not promote the importance of being home and raising your children, but you have to remind yourself that you are building your house and you are building generationally. That takes time and sacrifice, and you will not always see the significance of it in your daily routines or get a pat on the back.  You are raising oaks of righteousness that takes years of building, nurturing, hoping, believing and praying!!!

The scripture says that His thoughts for us outnumber the grains of sand. We need His thoughts for our lives. So if Jesus is not worried about our lives then why are we worried? Can we add a day or an hour to our lives? Can we manufacture purpose? Purpose is not man-made!! If we follow a man-made purpose, it will produce man-made results. We only want the purpose that is heaven-made. We want a purpose that has a touch of Jesus on it. A purpose that is eternal and when it goes through water or fire, it stands!!! It does not fade away. It does not diminish. It just shines brighter. That’s the kind of purpose we want to follow.

When the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego) as described in Daniel 3 were in the furnace, they did not burn not because they were anything special but because they were in God’s purpose for that time. They did not even smell like smoke. They weren’t worried about perishing because they weren’t looking for their own interests. They just wanted to do what was right. The kind of person who has been touched by eternity’s purpose is immovable, impenetrable, and imperishable because he is carrying the seed of life that does not fade or die but it produces a tree of life with the fruit of righteousness.

Worry is a negative emotion which can cause us to do somethings in the flesh. There are things that the Lord has given us to do, which we should obey and not procrastinate, but worry is not one of them!! Worry makes you think you are doing something when in fact it does nothing except to produce anxiety, or create stress in relationships. Worry can also motivate us to do things that aren’t ours to do or are done prematurely because we have allowed this emotion to have a driving force in our lives!!!

Let’s surrender our days, our purpose and our lives to the Lord and ask Him to guide us in fulfilling His purpose in our lives.

Do you value and treasure meeting with the Lord? Jacob finally came to that point in his life. Let’s look at the steps he took to prepare to meet the Lord.

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.  Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem. Genesis 35:1-4

God met Jacob for the first time at Bethel when he was running away from Esau having deceived his father and stolen his brother’s inheritance through lying. (Genesis 28:15)

In Genesis 35, after years of being away from parents, marrying two women and having twelve children, Jacob is finally coming back to Bethel. In all the years that transpired Jacob was a schemer and self-preserver, but now things are finally different.

Jacob instructed his household to do the following:

Put away foreign gods: Jacob instructed his entire household to put away foreign gods. When we get comfortable in our spiritual walk, it’s easier to take on the ways of our culture, follow its path, and making it our standard. For example, we can pay a lot of attention to sports, entertainment, lofty college goals for our children, making them the focus of our prayers instead of praying for character, faithfulness, integrity, or their choice of future mate. There is nothing wrong with any of those activities as long as they have proper place in our lives and don’t become a distraction. The distractions of this age are not what we should spend “all” of our effort pursuing, but we must teach ourselves and our children to navigate in the midst of all the good stuff and choose the best of what God has for us. This means learning how to hear God and prioritize.

Purify yourselves: Jacob knew putting away foreign gods is just the beginning. Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence”. Matthew 23:25 While it is important to put away the foreign gods, it is more important to allow the Lord to purify our hearts of any wrong motives, selfish ambition, deceit, lying, jealousy, envy, ungodly desires, and competition. Those things are obstacles to faith, obedience, and impede a person from truly trusting God.

Change your garments: Taking a bath wasn’t a daily activity in the ancient Middle East because water was not easily accessible. As a result people changed clothes after they had a bath which could be several days apart from each other. They also changed garments when there was a special occasion and were ready to celebrate something or attend a special event such as a bride and groom wearing their special garments to prepare for their special day!! In this case, Jacob was preparing himself to meet with the Lord, and he wanted to have everything right!!!

It takes effort to stay close to the Lord and meet with him. Just like a relationship with another person, it takes two to make the relationship strong and vibrant; both people have a part to play. For many years, God was merciful to Jacob in spite of Jacob, but there came a time that Jacob understood he needed and desired this relationship too, and it required him to put his sinful & immature ways aside and start living the life that honored the Lord.

Immaturity and sinfulness were not enjoyable to Jacob and they can’t be enjoyable to us either. There is a distaste for the things of the past because the Lord has changed our heart.  They must not bring the satisfaction they brought to us years ago. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel which means “God prevails”!! Jacob is a changed man who has been prevailed by God and now God could trust!!

We can’t afford to be stuck in immature or sinful ways!! Are we willing to do what it takes to have a strong and vibrant relationship with the Lord?

Then Jacob built an altar: Jacob reminds himself and his family that the God who met him there years ago when he was a single man, running away from his brother is the God who has been with Jacob, and has protected and provided for him all these years. This is a huge change for many of us including Jacob. If you are a talented, and a hard working person, it is easy to think that you have accomplished everything through your hard work. The Lord has changed Jacob’s heart. He has come to the end of his scheming years and settling into trusting God. Having done all of the above, Jacob came prepared to have a meeting with the Lord of the universe!!!

I am so thankful that the Lord did not give up on Jacob, and he doesn’t give up on us either. Every day we have a new invitation to walk closer with Him because His mercies are new every morning. Thank you Lord for your mercies towards us, and for being long suffering with us. We value your presence and you meeting with us. We love you and we desire to love you more!!!

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1Corinthians 13: 11-13

Isn’t it interesting that the scripture tells us that we should become like little children to see the kingdom of heaven, but when it comes to loving people, it tells us that we need to put childish ways away?

If you have raised children or have been around young people, you know how selfish they can be; generally, they are driven by what they want and when they want it!! It is the responsibility of their parents to teach them respect, love, sharing with others, and learning to wait for what they want so badly. Most children don’t come with that propensity, so they can easily throw a fit if things don’t go their way!!!

The above scripture tells us that we start out as children speaking childishly, with little understanding, and thinking immaturely. In our continual growth and maturity in the Lord, these three need to change.

Our speech needs to be more seasoned with salt. We can’t just speak things that cause hurt and destruction. This is easily seen in children fighting with their siblings. It is not pretty! They can say mean and hurtful things to each other. While many times they’ll get over their hurt, those words and attitudes can stay with someone into adulthood. I know it did for me.

We are also called to a mature understanding. Children generally see the world through their own eyes which makes them think the world revolves around them!! We as adults can do the same thing. It takes work to have a mature understanding of a situation especially if it involves conflict of some sort. This means I have to put my own feelings and opinions aside to have the chance to see the situation from the other person’s point of view. Seeing something from another’s point of view does not mean you agree, or their position is correct. It just allows you to see the situation from more than just your own perspective.  If we put this extra effort and time into it, we could alleviate unnecessary offense and tension. Many issues that seem huge at the moment can become smaller or eliminated if we tried to put ourselves in other people’s shoes.

Finally, we need to think right!! The scripture in Romans 12:1-2 tells us not to conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by renewing of our minds. Sometimes the patterns of the world are the old ways of thinking that keep us immature and don’t allow us to grow up and mature. We don’t want arrested development in our walk with the Lord. We must want to grow up and change our thinking or we will stay immature regardless of all the reasons it may be difficult to change.

Can you think of examples of where 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 becomes so critical? I think about so many marriages struggling because people say hurtful things to each other. They get set in their ways, and then they start thinking all the negative thoughts about each other. That’s a recipe for disaster!! A healthy marriage will grow when both people can speak the right words to each other, put themselves in each others’ shoes, and finally, remember the other person was a gift from God and should be treated as such.

The above scripture reminds us that we don’t see or know everything clearly on this side of heaven. There are going to be times we don’t know what God is doing, but that doesn’t give us the freedom to speak, or think childishly. In order to develop maturity it requires faith to speak right, understand well, and think pure thoughts.  If we do those things we are coming out of childish behaviors and becoming the man or the woman of God that He intended for us to be. Then we love better and our love for others and for the Lord matures. We speak properly about others, we have better empathy and understanding, and we think the right thoughts because we trust Him.

I want to mature in these areas, don’t you? Lord, please help us to speak right. Give us understanding for other people, so we can see their point of view, and help us think right thoughts about ourselves, about you and about others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.