THE PEOPLE: Becoming a Person of God

Have you ever had a pick up line used on you? If so, it was probably a cheesy line like, "Will you be my Wonder Woman and weaken me with your kryptonite?" The answer to this question is always going to be "NO." It's a lousy pick up line. Why? An effective pick up line can't be 'canned'. It needs to be genuine. And this is why people are so nervously thoughtful when they strike up a conversation with someone for the first time.

But when people get married it seems that little by little they throw thoughtfulness out the window. "Let me tell you how my mom used to do that." "You should talk to my ex-boyfriend because he was really good at coming up with fun date ideas." "Do you want to join a gym with me?" When we lose our thoughtfulness, we risk becoming blind to the harmful impact of our statements. 

The same is true in our spiritual lives. When we lose our thoughtfulness, we risk becoming blind to the harmful impact of our sin on others. When we first start walking with God, we keep tabs on our sin (we are hyper-sensitive). But over time we lose sensitivity and become blind to our sin. As a result, we leave destruction in our path. And this reality presents a problem for God when it comes to accomplishing his PLAN. How so? Well, our loss of sensitivity allows sin to fester and prevents us from being a BLESSING to others. This is a problem. Why?

If you remember from the last blog, BEING a BLESSING is foundational to God's PLAN to reverse the CURSE. As we saw, God's PLAN in Genesis 12:1-3 involved making Abram into a large community of PEOPLE ["great nation"], planting these people on a specific piece of PROPERTY ["the land"], making these people PROMINENT as they live out God's creation design ["great name"], so that the entire PLANET will be blessed through the prominence of these God-centered people ["all people's on earth"]. But if God's people fail to BE a BLESSING, how can they possibly BLESS the entire PLANET and counteract the CURSE? They can't! And so BEING a BLESSING is a vital part of God's PLAN.

So this begs the question: How does God go about TRANSFORMING a sin-proned people so that they can BE a BLESSING? The stories in Genesis 25-33 reveal to us the secret:

[TASTE + TRUST triggers TRANSFORMATION]

Let me explain...

GOD FORCES US TO TASTE OUR SIN
God wants us to understand how our sin HURTS other people and so sometimes He forces us to TASTE our own sin. The hope in doing this is that it will produce in us an urgent desire to remove this sin pattern from our life. This is precisely what happened in Jacob's life...

True to his name which means "deceiver," Jacob takes advantage of his brother, Esau, when he is in great need by purchasing Esau's birthright in exchange for some stew and bread (25:27-34). Jacob then deceives his father, Isaac, into giving him Esau's blessing (ch. 27). It is clear that Jacob is concerned only about one person... HIMSELF. So how can a ME-focused person like Jacob BE a BLESSING to the entire world? Answer: It's not possible. And so God knows that if He doesn't do something, His restoration PLAN might be derailed.

And so God sends Jacob to his uncle Laban for a little training seminar. On his journey to Laban, Jacob gets reassurances from God through a vision at Bethel that God will be with him and come through on His promises (This vision at Bethel is eerily similar to Abraham's vision in Genesis 15). But in this vision God doesn't tell Jacob that He has signed him up for a seminar being taught by his Uncle Laban called: "What It Feels Like to Be Deceived." As it turns out, Laban is quite the teacher and he gives Jacob a strong dose of his own medicine. Laban deceives Jacob into serving him just like Jacob deceived Esau into serving him. Similarly, Laban upholds the very birth-order customs that Jacob ignored. You can read all about these ironic twists and turns in Genesis 29.

Jacob eventually gets fed up with Laban's deception and so he makes a run for it with his family and possessions. By fleeing from Laban and back to Canaan, the author wants the reader to understand that Jacob is also fleeing away from his old, deceptive ways and back to God. Jacob is a new man. The author reinforces this in chapters 31-32 through the retelling of Jacob's several encounters with God's angels. In one of these encounters, Jacob wrestles with a man (whom Jacob presumably understands to be an angel) until he receives God's blessing and favor. At this encounter, Jacob's name is changed to Israel which means "struggle with God." This experience was meant to commemorate Jacob's transformation and his desire to struggle for God's favor and blessing (no matter the personal cost). The story of Jacob ends in chapter 35 when Jacob returns to Bethel and recommits himself to God.

GOD HELPS US TRUST HIM
God knows that TASTING the affects of our sin alone won't trigger our TRANSFORMATION. Why? At the core of our desire to sin stands a lack of TRUST in God. When things aren't going our way, we feel like we need to take matters into our own hands. This self-reliance breeds things like dishonesty and self-focus (things opposed to the BLESSING of God's original creation design but that get us the results we want).

We see this play itself out in the Genesis narratives. Time and time again, God's people resorted to deception or cultural custom to hijack control of God's PLAN. Twice Abraham deceived kings by telling them that Sarah was His sister because He didn't trust in God's PROTECTION. Abraham also resorted to CULTURAL CUSTOM when he utilized his servant Hagar to produce a male offspring to carry on his lineage. Abraham resorted to this CULTURAL CUSTOM because he did not TRUST in God's PROVISION of a son through his wife Sarah.

What do these narratives tell us? God needs to build a foundation of TRUST with us so that we will stick to His PLAN. The more we TRUST God, the more we will TRUST in His guidance. So how can we go about building TRUST in God? SIMPLE. Through EXPERIENCE! In Genesis, when the people would follow God's PLAN and GO, God would meet their needs. He provided offspring to barren women and he provided food in times of drought. As a result, God's people began to TRUST Him. Likewise, when we embrace God's PLAN and GO, God will meet our needs. And as we experience God's faithfulness, our TRUST in God will grow.

THE BOTTOM LINE
God created you and me to restore a broken world. But to join God in his plan, we need to accurately reflect God to the world around us by loving others well and by investing our lives for the sake of others. As we see in the Jacob narratives, God is also in the business of transforming us into the types of people he can use for His purposes. This should be a source of hope for all of us. Because no matter where you are at on your spiritual journey, God can use you! But first, you have to want to be TRANSFORMED. So let me ask you: Do you want to be TRANSFORMED by God?