The way of Love
(lesson 1 of 2 for week 1)
Read
John 15 and also read about Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 25- 27 and notice
in Jacob’s story and in Malachi’s words the passionate heart of God’s love for
you fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
1
Do “love” and “hate” mean something more than
simple emotions? Can “love” be a decision, an act of the will, as well as a
feeling or an emotion?
2
Read Malachi 1:2-3. How does this passage
describe God’s love?
3
If God loves what is good, how would He respond
to what is evil and destroy His dear creation (Ps. 5:4-5)?
4
Though your sin offends His holiness and
righteousness, His fatherly love constrains His heart. In Holy Baptism He
washes away your sins. He lovingly embraces you as His dear child through
Christ. Though you lie and deceive like Jacob and Rebekah, though you despise
His blessings like Esau, He extends His gracious hand in mercy as if to say,
“Come here, My child, and kiss Me” (Gen. 27:26). He makes you the heir of all
the blessings that belong to His firstborn, Jesus.
As I reread the story of Isaac and Rebekah I am reminded that they are not characters in the Bible story but they are real people that God has placed in His Word for you and I to learn and to grow from. So I took this opportunity to read this not as a story that I have read before but as if I was a part of this family. So What does love have to do with this family that is dysfunctional and manipulative? And why in the world Rebecca manipulate her own husband when she was told that her son Jacob would be blessed? I must admit I was in fault, I've been able to see her situation from beginning to end. As I imagine myself stepping into their family I see that God was with them from the beginning the middle and the end. How He was sad when they were sad and He was joyful when they were joyful and he loved them through every step hating the sin that they cast on each other but never leaving their side even when they had wandered from Him. God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good !
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