Before we wrap up the account of the two men trying to out-cheat each other, it’s always intriguing to look at what must be the most dysfunctional blended family ever. By contrast, we sat down to dinner a few days ago with a delightful family with six children, ranging in age from 16 down to 6. All well-behaved, but still…a lot of kids! I reminded them of Jacob…

We left Jacob having just married Leah, instead of Rachel, then Rachel one week later. Leah has four sons:

When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing. (Genesis 29.31 – 35, ESV)

Continuing into chapter 30, Rachel pulls the handmaid trick (compare Sarah and Hagar, Genesis 16), and Bilhah has two sons: Dan and Naphtali. Two can play this game, so Leah sends in her handmaid, and Zilpah produces two more sons: Gad and Asher. Then Leah has two more sons, one involving wifely rivalry and mandrakes(!): Issachar and Zebulun. (See Genesis 30.1 – 18).

Finally, Rachel:

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!” (Genesis 30.22 – 24, ESV)

I find it fascinating that after waiting so many years for a son, Rachel doesn’t give thanks, she asks for another! We’re never satisfied, are we?

But back to Jacob, at this point he has 11 sons by four different women. That had to be an interesting household! And the problems will continue, as we’ll see soon.

If you have relational challenges inside or outside your family, it’s good to remember that there’s most likely someone in the Bible who went through worse than you!

Better to live in a tent in the wild than with a cross and petulant spouse. (Proverbs 21.19, MSG – But Jacob did live in a tent in the wild AND with four sometimes cross and petulant spouses!)

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Psalm 133.1, ESV)

My Navigator friend Bill Mowry sent a ministry update the other day which made me happy and sad at the same time. He talked about Rick, someone he had invested in years ago (actually, Rick was discipled by someone Bill had discipled – that’s the way it’s supposed to work). Anyway, Rick is now in a position of influence in a particular denomination (still as a layman), and brought in Bill to do “Alongsider” training for a number of church leaders. Bill believes, as do I, that all Jesus followers should be praying for people they can come alongside to help them follow Jesus.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, NIV)

Here’s Rick’s assessment of the training:

Thanks so much for everything today! I could not have asked for it to go better. So many people were talking with me about how they want to follow this up with something at their church, whether it’s starting a discipleship group or meeting one-to-one. What was interesting is that so many talked in a way like, “Why didn’t I know about all this stuff before now?” They had a bit of an epiphany experience. I can’t wait to see what happens when all these folks get back to their churches. The day was a shot in the arm for disciplemaking that we really needed. (emphasis mine)

I’m happy that Bill was able to sow good seed. I’m sad that many of these faithful believers, good church people, were hearing these concepts for the first time. I’ve written about this problem before. When will pastors understand that we’ve got to do more than just run Sunday morning services?

Four years ago I shared a concept that seemed to resonate with some folks at a denominational convention: should churches see themselves as general contractors who build houses or should they be more like trade schools that train the carpenters, plumbers, and electricians to build houses?

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, NIV, emphasis mine)

Continuing our meditation on “What I want is NOT all that matters,” I shared the Lady Mary story with my friend Josh who is with a nonprofit that ministers to youth leaders. His question was, “How would you describe the theology of that attitude? Maybe, a theology of suffering?” Thinking of the conversation I’d just had with the pastor in yesterday’s blog, I replied, “A theology of obedience.”

In addition to John 14.15, which we cited yesterday, this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans expresses well what our attitudes should be:

And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Therefore…

• let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and
• put on the armor of light.
• Let us walk properly as in the day,
  • not in carousing and drunkenness,
  • not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality,
  • not in strife and jealousy.
• But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
• make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13.11 – 14, LSB, bulleted for clarity)

These are clear commands, and they are things that can be done! Obedience. I suggested he tell the kids, “Repeat after me…

‘What I want is NOT all that matters!'”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3.6, ESV)

I was really impacted by the line in the movie that I shared last Friday:

I’m afraid I’m too old-fashioned to believe that what I want is the only thing that matters. – Lady Mary to a movie director in Downton Abbey: A New Era

I shared it in a conversation with a pastor who is struggling with some parishioners who don’t seem to believe that some things are right and others are wrong. “We just want to follow Jesus!” But, as the pastor pointed out, following Jesus is about obedience:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. (John 14.15…21, ESV)

We could paraphrase Lady Mary slightly to make the quote stand alone:

What I want is NOT all that matters.

The Apostle Paul said there a lot of things that don’t matter but what does matter is…

…keeping the commandments of God. (1 Corinthians 7.19)

I shared the Lady Mary story the next day with someone involved in youth ministry, and he had an intriguing response. We’ll look at it tomorrow.

There are always many lessons from big games, and this year’s Super Bowl, played Sunday, was no exception. Kansas City, down 10 points at the half, not giving up, even when their star quarterback, Patrick Mahommes, reinjured his ankle. Patrick’s perseverance.

I want to focus this blog on the losing quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who played like a winner, had way better stats than Mahommes, tied the game with five minutes left, and never got another chance. Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal captured the lesson with his fabulous article, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts: In Defeat, an Appreciation. The article opens this way:

I’ll admit this isn’t the ordinary move—an appreciation of the losing quarterback on the morning after the Super Bowl. The usual drill is to rudely step over the losing team, and wrap our love and superlatives around the champions. Within minutes of the confetti drop, the loser is relegated to history. By sunrise, it’s like they didn’t exist.

But I want to write a bit about Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, because he didn’t play like a loser at all Sunday in Arizona. He played like someone who very much deserved to win—until he and the Eagles didn’t. 

In the somber postgame, Hurts made a comment that signaled what this 24-year-old leader is all about. 

“You either win or you learn, that’s how I feel,” Hurts said. 

It’s a remix of a famous Nelson Mandela quote—I never lose, I win or learn—and I think every coach in America just took out a pen and copied that down. You either win or learn. In how many locker rooms will that bit of healthy wisdom be deployed in over the coming month? I’m going to drop it on my own children after youth soccer losses. – Jason Gay, February 13, 2023

Win or learn. That will preach.

Hurts could have been bitter. He played the better game. Mahommes himself said about Hurts’ performance:

The way he stepped up on this stage, ran and threw the ball and did whatever his team needed to win, that was a special performance. I don’t want it to get lost in the loss. – Patrick Mahommes, winning Super Bowl quarterback about Jalen Hurts, who lost.

Jalen Hurts expanded on his “win or learn” philosophy:

The beautiful part about it is everyone experiences different pains, everyone experiences different agonies of life. You decide if you want to learn from it. You decide if you want that to be a teachable moment. I know I do. – Jalen Hurts

Can we turn life’s disappointments into teachable moments? I hope so.

…After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26.74 – 75, ESV)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21.15, ESV)

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5.1 – 3, ESV)

Peter failed…but he learned…and taught.

We saw a couple of days ago how Jacob (aided by his mother) deceived Isaac and cheated Esau out of a blessing. In Genesis 29 and 30, we see Jacob up against the master-cheater, his Uncle Laban. What goes around comes around…

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7.12, NIV)

Jacob’s mission, like the servant’s in Genesis 24, was to get a wife. Like the servant, he meets Rachel at a well, and agrees to work for Laban for seven years for Rachel:

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” (Genesis 29.20 – 25, ESV)

Oops. The deceiver is deceived. And deceptions and cheating between these two go on. Stay tuned.

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another…Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4.25, 28, NKJV)

After Jacob lies to his father, Isaac, stealing Esau’s blessing, Esau is a bit miffed and is ready to kill Jacob. So Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, hustles Jacob off to her family to find a wife (see Genesis 27.41 – 28.5).

The first night on the road, Jacob has his famous “Jacob’s Ladder” dream in which God reconfirms the covenant:

And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28.12 – 15, ESV)

Two things are important here: the first is that the covenant must be confirmed to each generation. It’s not enough that God said he would bless Abraham (beginning with Genesis 12.1 – 3), then Isaac (Genesis 26.1 – 4). Jacob must have his own encounter with God – just like each of us.

Second, I can’t help but notice that God’s promise to Jacob has no “if” clauses. Compare God’s encounter with Abram in Genesis 15. On the other hand, Jacob’s response is one big “if” clause:

Then Jacob made a vow, saying,

• “If God will be with me and
• will keep me in this way that I go, and
• will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
• so that I come again to my father’s house in peace,

Then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (Genesis 28.20 – 22, ESV emphasis mine, bulleted for clarity)

Jacob has a lot to learn, it seems. Don’t we all?

We’ve been thinking about holy moments the past few days, but the Bible reminds us frequently that since Genesis 3, people often choose unholy moments instead.

Back to Genesis, we begin the story of Jacob who lies to his father to get Esau’s blessing. These are not nice people! Dr. David Wyrtzen, pastor and seminary professor, writes a 5-day-a-week “Dave’s Daily Devo.” It’s good although, just like this blog, it’s not a substitute for your own daily reading and time with God. Anyway, Dave wrote this the other day about characters like Jacob:

Several years ago I was teaching the Moldovan staff for Campus Crusade, now called CRU. Living in a country dominated for fifty-one years by Russian communism, they had hardly been raised on standard children’s Bible stories. My assignment was to give them a master’s level course—An Introduction to the Old Testament—and reading the text was a top priority. About the second day of the crash course they came to me, “Why are you having us read all these dirty stories about such morally corrupt characters?” – Dave Wyrtzen, February 3, 2023

“Dirty stories about such morally corrupt characters…” Here’s a sample from Genesis 27, the sordid story of Jacob’s deception. He didn’t just bring in the game (goat) dressed as Esau and let Isaac draw his own conclusion. He outright lied

So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. (Genesis 27.18 – 25, ESV)

Jacob, the deceiver, father of the twelve tribes of Israel, didn’t have such a great start. Yet look how God introduces himself to Moses:

And God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3.6, ESV)

Stay tuned. Jacob, the deceiver, is about to come up against the master cheater! But first, he encounters God.

It’s not every day in a current movie that one sees an unexpected Holy Moment. Remember:

A Holy Moment is a moment when you open yourself to God. You make yourself available to him. You set aside what you feel like doing in that moment, and you set aside self-interest, and for one moment you simply do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do in that moment. – Matthew Kelly, The Biggest Lie, chapter 7

“…you set aside what you feel like doing in that moment…”

June and I had watched all the episodes of Downton Abbey when it was a television series. We didn’t see the 2019 movie made after the series closed and didn’t know that they made one just last year: Downton Abbey: A New Era, available on Amazon Prime. We watched it a few days ago.

As is typical, there were multiple plot threads, one of which involved a commercial film studio shooting a movie at the estate while most of the family went to the south of France. There was a lot of interaction between the oldest daughter, Mary, and the film director. Mary’s husband does not appear in the movie. He’s off having adventures at a car rally, and Mary confides to the director that her current marriage is not as good as her first one. (Her first husband died in a car accident.) Mary ends up saving the movie when they have to switch from silent to talkie, and the leading lady can’t talk. Mary dubs in her lines. The director falls for her, of course. Near the end there is this exchange:

• Director: May I kiss you?
• Mary: No.
• Director: Don’t you want to?
• Mary: I’m afraid I’m too old-fashioned to believe that what I want is the only thing that matters.

Lady Mary tells the director, “I’m too old-fashioned to believe that what I want is the only thing that matters.”

That will preach in an age where we’re told over and over to go with our feelings and follow our heart, etc., etc.

For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding… Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse… (Proverbs 2.6 – 12, NIV)

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10.13, NIV)

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality… (Ephesians 5.3, NIV)

Yesterday, I challenged us to turn the news into, as a friend of mine would say, “fuel for prayer.” Doing this is difficult when the news itself is “entertainment.” You don’t think so? Monday morning, I woke up to the news of a devasting earthquake in Turkey, or Turkiye, about 250 miles from where I served in 1970 – 1971, tracking satellites. As of Wednesday morning, we know that over 7,500 people were killed, and thousands of others were injured. When I clicked on the link, here’s what came up:

START THE DAY HERE in a red box at the top of the page with three stories:

• Deadly earthquake hits Turkey and Syria [Yes, that’s what I was checking on.]
• Beyoncé makes Grammy history [Really?]
• How to see February’s full snow moon [I need an article to tell me how to see the moon? Don’t I just look out the window or walk outside and look up? By the way, the moon was nice. We were driving to our son’s for dinner when it was first coming up.]

But I digress. I’m writing about the moon, when I really want to write about the silliness of juxtaposing a story of a tragic earthquake with trivialities. And that’s really what’s happening here, isn’t it? One digression (or distraction) after another.

What’s the opposite of “digression”? I thought of “focus,” or “staying on course.” I looked up digression in a thesaurus to see what the antonyms were. There were 22 synonyms but only three antonyms: “go direct,” “stay,” and “be direct.” But that makes sense. If you’re on a hiking trail, there are many ways to go off the trail but only one way to stay on it. If you’re working on a project, there are many possible digressions, but only a few ways to make progress at any given point.

I looked up entertainment: “the action of providing or being provided with amusement…” “Amusement” definitions list “distraction” as a synonym, so we come full circle. And isn’t the root of “amusement” a-muse or not thinking?

I guess the takeaway is that we will have to be focused and intentional if we want to use our time well. There are endless opportunities for digressing into entertainment and amusement even if we’re trying to keep up with important news.

Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD…For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil. (Proverbs 1.28 – 33, NKJV)

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6.16, NIV)

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise. (Ephesians 5.15, NIV)