Realization of Grace (Part 1)

Realization of Grace - Jacob (Genesis 29:1-12)

Jacob was a respectable man by today’s standards. He earned what he got, he lived in light of what was his own. Jacob was a man that was completely exemplary for today’s society. What Jacob wanted, Jacob worked for. This is respectable right?

In Genesis 29:1-12 we see that Jacob comes over a hill. He’s hanging out with some guys buy the local watering well, when a woman walks over a hill. Jacob sees her and instantly falls in love with her. While staying in touch with Jacob’s mindset, he knew that if he wanted her to love him back, he had to work for it.

This is the mindset of men in today’s society, we have to work for love and work to make people love us. Unfortunately, this is a sign of serious arrogance. If a person loves another person, then there is nothing that anyone can do to make that person love the other any more or any less.

For someone to think that they can earn another person’s love, puts the responsibility of love on the their shoulders rather than the one that is doing the loving. With this in mind, we can conclude that we are working to find a place in someone’s heart by our actions, therefore, we have ourselves on our minds and cannot possibly be thinking at all about the other person. This is pride.

When Jacob sees Rachel, he does the most romantic thing, he throws a big rock and kisses and cries with her. He tried to be manly, this is not an appropriate gift to offer a woman, Jacob’s mind was on himself. If you know any women at all, you know that they are not impressed by displays of men’s manhood. But Rachel loved Jacob anyway.

This is a picture of grace. Grace is when God’s love for us is so big, that he chooses to have His Son die for us, we can’t earn it, because God is so holy that we cannot approach His throne at all with the slightest mistake in our lives. So, God’s Son paid the debt that no one could ever pay, therefore Grace was poured out on all who would believe.

The challenge comes though, when someone will just stop trying to do the respectable thing of trying to earn what the get, but Salvation is nothing that you can earn. All you can do is humbly accept the free offer of God’s Grace. So, stop trying and let go, let God pick up where you left off.