Living in the Spirit
July 15, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 28:10-19a

 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’  

So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. — Genesis 28:16-19 

Believer’s baptism is an old phrase in the theological scramble for what it means to be a Christian or at least when one becomes a Christian. We also like to toss around the phrase, “being born again” harkening back to Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus (See John 2.21-3.6). Our language is sometimes limited in its ability to describe our relationship with the divine.

Moses might have had some introduction to Yahweh while being cared for by his mother until he was weaned, but we have no history of him being schooled in the faith from that time on until he encountered a burning bush. Jacob on the other hand had most likely taken for granted the existence and worship of God having been raised in Father Abraham’s shadow. In either case or no matter what we want to call it, there comes a point when we realize the presence of the Lord in our lives and our perspective is changed forever. Jacob’s moment came alone, on the run, sleeping with his head on a rock. His immediate reaction was to build an altar, designating a specific place as the place of God.

Even though that encounter changed his life, Jacob was still Jacob, still crafty. It is interesting that as the story continues regarding Jacob’s life with his uncle, there is very little if any mention of God. It actually reads like a modern soap opera. It appears that Jacob’s faith development has resulting in his compartmentalizing God.

Do we still do that today? Is God the entry on our busy calendar for Sunday morning and perhaps a day of service once in a while or serving on a committee now and then? Or is God the entity with whom we meet every morning when we awake and plan our day, who walks with us through every appointment on our calendar every day, and the one we go to in our bed at night when we assess the outcomes of our discipleship today?

Prayer: Holy One, order my life so that I am fully invested and involved in the furtherance of your Kingdom here on earth. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.