Daily Devotion
Thanks for coming and using the daily devotions I provide for our website. I am thrilled that you are interested in the discipline of daily spending a few moments with God.
I provide these from Monday through Saturday each week. On Sunday I trust you are in worship and that will be your devotional time.
On Monday each week I clear the previous week's devotionals off the page to make more room. During the week you may scroll down to any of the previous days of the week. If you for some strange reason would like to have a copy of an older devotion please email me at bill@gracethechurch.com and give me the date and I will return email it to you.
I hope you enjoy.
God's best,
Bill Leslie, Senior Pastor
Wednesday September 8, 2010
Now Jacob heard Laban’s sons saying, “Jacob has taken all that our father had; it is out of what our father had that he has acquired all this wealth.” Jacob saw too that the attitude of Laban toward him was not what it used to be; so the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives; I will be with you.”
Genesis 31:1-3
Devotion
Have you ever noticed when someone’s attitude towards you changes?
Guys; remember when you were in elementary school and the father of your next door neighbor’s daughter thought you were really nice and loved to have you over to play in the backyard. Then you get to high school and anytime you show up at his door he gets the shotgun out and never lets you out of his sight? At some point you became a threat in his mind and thus his attitude changed. Or as my mother always said when I was raising our daughters, “Your childhood is coming back to haunt you!”
When Jacob arrived at Laban’s home, he was welcomed with open arms. Now, years later, after marrying both Laban’s daughters and stealing everything that isn’t tied down, Laban is having second thoughts. My suggestion is that Laban should remember his own welcoming words, “you really are a part of our family” and not be surprised at Jacob’s behavior!
Sometimes that attitude change can be a positive. When I was coaching we had a junior high boy that was a terrible athlete. Many times the coaching staff discussed cutting him off the team because we knew he would never be much of a player. Whenever we had those discussions we always kept him on the squad because he was such a nice kid.
Then the summer before h is tenth grade year something amazing happened. He grew about seven inches in height and added almost sixty pounds. Suddenly he was coordinated. He became an outstanding football player, ultimately winning a major college scholarship to play on that level. Our attitude about him certainly changed, but in a very positive way. He was still a great kid, but now one that you could build a program around.
Those attitude changes you have sensed in others concerning you, are they positive or negative?
God is calling us today to work to make positive impressions on those around us. Maybe you will understand it better if I simply repeat the Golden Rule of Jesus. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” When we are considerate of the feelings, opinions, and needs of those around us, their attitudes towards us will be positive.
How well are you following Jesus’ teaching? Are you a follower of Jesus or of Jacob?
God’s best,
Bill
Prayer: Lord, let me treat others today in such a manner that they will know I am a Christ follower. Amen
Tuesday September 7
Jacob said, “I will go on pasturing your flock, if you will do this for me; go through all the flock today, and remove from it every speckled and spotted sheep, every one of the lambs that is black, and any of the goats that is spotted and speckled; such shall be my pay. At some future time, whenever you may come, my honesty toward you will answer for me in the matter of my hire; if t here is any one among the goats that is not speckled and spotted, or among the lambs that is not black, it came into my possession by theft.” “Good, said Laban, “let it be as you say.”
Genesis 30:31-34
Devotion
Who would have ever known that Jacob had a degree in genetics?
Do you remember your high school biology and studying Mendel and how genetics works? You know, all that recessive and dominant gene stuff. Evidently Jacob knew all this far ahead of the rest of the world.
You see, pure white is recessive in sheep and certainly in goats. Only when two sheep whose genes are perfectly recessive will you get white sheep or goats. Grey, black, spotted, mottled all are the result when you get mixed color genes, which is a hundred times more likely than getting pure recessive genes. Jacob claimed all the impure sheep and goats, which somehow is quite fitting. Once the agreement is done, the resulting increase of Jacob’s flock and decrease of Laban’s is inevitable.
There is an old adage in business, don’t deal with someone who knows more than you do about your product because you will lose every time. Laban wasn’t out with the flocks every day and had not learned this truth. Jacob was with them and he took advantage of Laban.
Of course the original Hebrew has fun with the story instead of just going biological. The text in Hebrew explains all of this by telling us (in a polite, round about sort of way way) that the color of the newborn sheep was determined by what their parents were looking at during the moment of conception. Thus we find Jacob running around to all the watering troughs where the sheep and goats gather and waving black and white limbs in front of the mating sheep so their offspring would be mottled. Hebrew is a lot less dignified than biology. To this day I have not gotten the image of Jacob frantically running from one pair of mating sheep to another waving his colored limbs in their faces before darting off to another couple.
You have to give Jacob credit, whether intellectually for his awareness of genetics or for his creativity and energy in chasing mating pairs of sheep; the boy was dedicated to his success.
How well are you doing today in your chosen line of work? Is your success matching Jacob’s?
If you can’t say that things are going as well for you as they did for Jacob maybe you need to take a page from his book. Besides being industrious Jacob also knew that his efforts (even as strange as they may have been) were blessed by God. God had promised to provide for him and Jacob claimed that promise.
Have you ever given your daily labor to God? Have you ever understood that no matter what job you are performing it is for God? How would the idea that you are working for God change your approach to your job?
God’s best,
Bill
Prayer: Lord remind me that my labor today is for you and help me to find joy in it. Amen
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