Accepted

[0:00] A pastor's reflections. Accepted. Genesis 27.10. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.

[0:13] Luke 11.13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

[0:25] Acts 10.34. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

[0:38] Jacob was a man desperate for his father's attention. Having spent his entire life in the shadow of his older brother Esau, Jacob was prepared to go to some pretty extreme lengths to receive a blessing from his dad. Perhaps Jacob had spent his life wondering what might have been if he had been the oldest, or perhaps he was tired of seeing all of his father's affection and time spent upon Esau while he just received the leftovers.

[1:06] Either way, Jacob was a desperate man. Unfortunately for Jacob, that desperation led him to a place I am sure he would have never imagined himself being, standing outside his father's tent, dressed in his brother's clothes, covered in freshly skinned goat skins.

[1:28] Genesis 27.16.17. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck, and she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

[1:42] What Jacob was looking for was never going to be found by deception or self-effort. All of his scheming and planning would not bring him that one elusive thing that he desired above all else, the heart of his father.

[1:59] Proverbs 13.12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. Just like Jacob, we too can find ourselves attempting to be someone we are not for the sake of a relationship.

[2:13] We act a certain way or do certain things that are not a part of who we really are, all in an attempt to be someone who we hope others will take note of and value. Like Jacob, who went to such great lengths to win the notice of his earthly father, we can be the same way with our heavenly father.

[2:32] We think we can convince God to bless us or notice us by acting or looking a certain way. We hope that it will be good enough to maybe convince God to slip out an extra blessing just for us.

[2:45] Perhaps he won't look beneath the goatskins. 1 Samuel 16.7. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.

[2:59] For the Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. The problem is that it's already too late.

[3:11] God sees right through our disguises and sees us for who we really are. We may fool others, but we can never fool God. And nothing we do will ever convince him to bless us.

[3:23] And no, not because he doesn't want to bless us, but because somebody else has already done a much better job at securing his blessing for us.

[3:33] Ephesians 1.3 and 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.

[3:52] Romans 8.29, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

[4:05] You see, we also have an older brother. However, unlike Esau, our older brother desires to see his younger siblings in the same position as himself. In the love of the Father.

[4:18] John 16.27, For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. We do not need to try and be something we are not, to secure God's blessing and notice.

[4:35] If we are in Christ, then we have already become all that we will ever need to be, to secure a place in our Father's heart. Father, thank you for loving me.

[4:46] Thank you for noticing me. Thank you for making me acceptable in Jesus. Use me to invite others into a relationship with the Heavenly Father.

[4:58] Amen.