What would stop us from following with more purpose here are some example. of excuses that would hold us back.

I really don’t want to get to religious.

I have not got the time to commit like that.

What will my friends think?

We could think of many excuses, excuses not to commit at all, or excuses to make a token commitment, so to be seen to be doing something. We wrestle with a decision, to follow and trust in Our Loving God who created us.

In Genesis there is a wrestling story, Genesis 32 verses 24 to 32:

“Jacob Wrestles with a Angel.”

As Jacob and the Angel wrestled together, the Angel of The Lord asked Jacob, ‘What is your name?’ He answered, ‘Jacob.’ Then the angel said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, which means deceiver, but Israel, which means prince of God, because you have struggled and have overcome’.

God forced Jacob to look at his true identity. Jacob like many or all of us at times, wrestled with the revelation of who he was, not who others said he was. We are born into a fallen world, and we have a name by which we are known. But God has a different plan for all our lives, we shouldn’t wrestle too long with who we are, and who we are created to be, if we determined to follow Our Lord and Our Friend, with purpose and in His destiny.

We need to turn from wrestling, and determine who we are before God. Let Our Lord and Our Friend determine our level of success. In the fallen world, we generally governed by other people expectations, but we are more than our pasts, more than our worldly achievements, more than the color of our skin, more than any of our possessions, and greatly more than any of the current circumstances around our lives.

Anytime is a time to reflect, why God sent His Son, Why His Son came and entered the world as one of us. Through repentance and acceptance of the Great love He has for us, we should wrestle no longer. Tell others who talk down to us and devalue are. We are no longer listening, to what you are saying, we are past wrestling with who we are.

Our Lord and Our Friend says, ‘we are now Children of the Kingdom, in which He is King of King, Lord of Lords, and our identity in Him is secure’. It is time to walk as representatives of His Kingdom. So lets lift our heads, and walk with pride in the new identity He was freely given to our lives.

We can either wrestle with God, or walk with Him as Our Lord, Our Redeemer and Our Friend. That is an easy choice, when we realize how much He loves us.

God Bless.

O F J.