Saints and Sinners

In these latter chapters of Genesis, we get all kinds of characters. Jacob is a grabber and trickster from the day he is born. He cheats his brother Esau out of his birthright with the help of his mother. Then he has to flee for his life. In his father-in-law Laban, he meets his match.

Jacob marries two wives with Rachel being his favorite and the understandable jealousy between the two is forever evident. When Rachel finally gives birth to a son, Joseph becomes the favorite son. Joseph loves to rub that in with his brothers which causes all kinds of sibling rivalry. And so on, and so on...

If you have the Daily Response Book, you will have read on page 12 these words from Kalas, "Faith is not simple, not even for good people, not even for saints. The lives of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah ought to instruct us at that point. We may sometimes be troubled by their inconsistencies (especially if we are momentarily dull to our own), but we might also be encouraged by them. If they made it, and were even crucial to God's plan, surely there is hope for us! This is not to justify our sins or our lapses in righteousness but to recognize that goodness doesn't come easily. There are no sudden saints."

"There are no sudden saints." I love that statement! We are all a mixture of saint and sinner. And if we did not know that before, we should certainly know that after having read the book of Genesis. We have the capacity to be so faithful, going when God says "go". Some days are like that. Then other days we get afraid and don't stand up when we should. We pull the covers over our head instead or put our foot in our mouths. It's our version of going to Egypt and passing off our spouse as our sibling to save our skin. But no matter what, we keep putting one foot in front of the other on this journey of faith, taking a lifetime to grow in our love for Jesus Christ. That is our goal and it is worth striving toward.

Fortunately, God gives us a new beginning every day! We get to start over with fresh opportunities to be God's people. That is God's gracious gift to us, and it is God's grace that saves us too. For that, we can be eternally thankful.

So keep reading. Don't you give up on God's people in the Old Testament because God never did.

Grace and peace,
Rev Linda