Daily Devotions based the Sermon from February 28, 2021
THIS WEEK: Lead Me to the Cross…See the Ladder…Find God & His Promises!
Growing up years can be challenging for many reasons, but perhaps none greater than finding where I fit in with others and what is my purpose. We want to belong. We want to have a purpose.
Being picked last for the grade school kickball team hurts. It seems like we are not wanted and no use for the team.
Jacob was on the run away from his people. The comforts of home were a vision in his rear view mirror.
His reason for leaving was to flee the anger of his brother Esau and to find a wife from his family versus the people around where his Father was living.
As Jacob lies on the rock all alone, God comes to him to promise him a people and a purpose.
The promise of People: 4 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,…
That’s a lot of people for a single guy to comprehend! Yet God would bring from the family of Jacob millions of people. Jews today still trace their lineage back to Jacob.
But God wasn’t interested in just a physical blood line. He had a special purpose for the offspring of Jacob.
Genesis 28:4 All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
God would bring a blessing to all people on earth through the offspring of Jacob. How? Through the person and work of Jesus Christ. He was of the blood line of Jacob, but more importantly he was the pinnacle of God fulfilling his promise to Jacob and his descendants. Jesus was the purpose for the family of Jacob. He was the blessing that came for all people.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
So what about us?
God has given us a similar promise of a “People” and a “Purpose.”
We are not connected to the bloodline of Jacob, but we are connected to the blood of Jesus, not by physical lineage, but by faith in Jesus. The people who are connected to Jesus will be like the dust of the earth, so many, no one can count.
…before me was a great multitude that no one could count, …standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. Rev. 7:9
By faith you are one of those. At times it may seem lonely to be a Christian. God’s promise is this:
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Just like God gave a purpose to the descendants of Jacob to be a blessing to all nations, so you and me, God’s people today are here to be a blessing to all nations. How?
Do what God called us to do: Declare the praises of Jesus.
To whom? All nations.
Mt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,…
I’m sure it was hard for a single, young Jacob to believe God’s promise of one day being a countless people and a blessing to all the nations. But it came to be.
It’s hard at times to be a Christian, but God has promised that we are part of a bigger people with a bigger purpose. Enjoy living in these promises!
Apply: What happens to your day when you embrace God’s promise of purpose and see opportunities to witness and work for Christ each day?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for making me one of your people by faith. Help me each day be a blessing to the nations by reflecting and sharing your love and grace. AMEN.