Genesis
29:16b-20 Now Laban had two
daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the
younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were delicate, but
Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he
said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” And
Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give
her to another man. Stay with me.” So Jacob served seven years for Rachel,
and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for
her.”
This
last week, Pastor Kyle continued through his Sunday Sermon series based upon
the book of Genesis. He told us of a marshmallow experiment performed at
Stanford University where children were offered two choices. (1) A marshmallow
was laid on the table before them and they were told that they could eat the
tasty treat now or (2) they could wait a specified amount of time and they
could have two marshmallows. The point of the experiment was that in life,
there are times when you have a choice for a small reward now or a larger
reward later ... that some things are worth waiting for; this is termed
“delayed gratification”. The Israelite Patriarch Jacob was willing to work for
and wait for Rachel as his wife.
Luke
6:31 “And just as you
want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
This
portion of Scripture, after Jacobs conversion at the stairway to Heaven, the
ex-deceiver gets deceived by a cunning conman Uncle Laban. Pastor Kyle gave us
four things to think about when we are wrapped up in deception. (1) We almost
always have reasons for our actions. In Genesis 29:21-23, Laban pulled the
big “bait and switch” on Jacob, changing his older daughter Leah for Rachel. We
can also be deceptive in that the original reason for doing something is not
“The Reason” for doing it because there is an ulterior motive going on behind
the scenes ... what we are doing what we are doing. But, the over-lying reason
for a Christian is whether our motive lines up with God’s motives. Pastor Kyle
says that our Christian walk is like a “dimmer Switch” in that the more we
follow God’s holy Word, Will and Way, the more we hear from Him along the path
on this side of eternity.
2
Timothy 2:22 “Flee also youthful
lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the
Lord out of a pure heart.”
(2)
We feel the need to act quickly. Laban never told anyone about his evil plan
and purpose until after the trap was sprung. A general rule for us today is that
the “rushed” voice is not usually the voice of God telling us of what He was
going to do. (3) We think that we are doing the “right” thing. We can get so
wrapped up in a deception that we actually rationalize the hidden agenda
thoughts and deceptive actions, thinking that we are manipulating the course
and proceedings towards a greater “good”.
Let's continue Pastor's Kyle message on the next post,
In Christ Brian
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