Did you see those two words repeated through this
vision? "And behold" appears
three times in the vision. It seems like
"holy cow" could come after the word "and" each time. Jacob's dream certainly got his
attention. He was in fear when he awoke
and processed the dream. He knew that
the dream was more than a dream, it was reality, this was indeed the Lord's
house and so he named it thus, Bethel.
His commitment to the Lord, however, was contingent on the Lord
providing for him and returning him in peace and safety to his father's house
eventually. If the Lord did those things
then He would be Jacob's God and he will give a tenth to God. How would he keep that particular part of the
vow? There was no temple, no worship,
nothing. Jacob was always making
deals. He will return to this place and
will have another encounter with God here.
He will, at that time, be a self-made man but he will be humbled again
in this place.
" For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay
down my life that I may take it up again."
Jesus is loved by the Father because he loves the sheep enough to lay
down his life for them. Is that the way
we love one another? We might die for
one another in love but the call is rarely that. More often we are called to lay down our
preferences for one another, lay down our self-centeredness for one
another. Jesus is the good shepherd and
He shows us the way to love as well. It
is so humbling that He was willing to lay aside His own comfort, His throne,
His unbroken relationship with the Father, everything, for us. Can we get outside ourselves long enough to
do the same for Him by loving one another as He loved us? Jacob's promise to give God a tenth was
contingent on food, clothing and safety, what is your giving to God contingent
upon? Is it like Jacob or are we
actually a good bit more demanding even than Jacob? Is our understanding of God and the sacrifice
of Jesus big enough in our lives to change us?
Faith is the key, beginning, middle and end. Those who began their journey in faith
believing in Jesus, continued the journey by acting in accordance with faith
and persevered in faith unto death not having received the fullness of the
promises. They did not, however, die
disappointed because their faith continued beyond the grave. They continued to believe God was faithful to
do all He had promised so death did not end the journey, He has all eternity to
fulfill His promises to us. We have but
one life to offer Him to do the work He has given us to do. Will we be faithful in our short earthly
sojourn so that we might see the fulfillment of the promise of
resurrection? It is always all about faith,
sometimes active, sometimes passive.
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