Author: Tyler Eggers

"So, they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem." Genesis 35:4

The word repent means to change one’s thoughts and direction. It is the idea of completely changing the direction in which you are headed. For Jacob, he was finally ready to completely bury any foreign gods and serve the one true God alone. As a result, he orders his family to get rid of, turn from, and then bury all of the foreign gods that they had acquired.

For us, this may sound strange and irrelevant. That is because in 2022 we are not living in the same hyper-religious culture that we read about in the Old Testament. We are living in a post-Christian culture defined by indulgence and pleasure. To put it in modern terms, Jacob was facing a culture that worshiped foreign gods and idols in the same way that our culture idolizes sinful behaviors. These sinful behaviors – pride, envy, lust, etc. - have become our false gods. When Jacob decided to bury the false idols, he was declaring that a new day had begun. He and his family were confident in the guidance and direction of the Lord and were putting all of their faith in Him.

This reminds me of a book called Kill the Spider. In the book, the author talks about how he was so good at cleaning the “cobwebs” off of his life. By “cobwebs”, he is referring to the sin that was in his life. He was able to keep his sins hidden from the outside world while never fully being free from them. However, his secret sin was entangling his life. He didn’t find total freedom until his dad told him that in order to be free from sin, he had to “kill the spider” - the creator of the cobwebs. In other words, he had to find out and destroy the root cause of his sin.

We are only able to escape the clutches of sin and be truly set free when we ask a hard question, are completely honest with ourselves, surrender to God, and seek to find out why we make the bad choices that we make. Once we find the source of our sin, we are then able to kill it through surrendering it to Christ and moving forward.

Jesus says in the Gospel, “He who the Son sets free is free indeed.” Will you allow Jesus to set you free of your sins today?

Reflection & Response:

• Take some time to think about the sins that you struggle with or the things that you allow to become false gods in your life. Ask God to give you wisdom to understand why you struggle with this sin specifically. Ask God to set you free of this sin.
• I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of "Kill the Spider" or "Live No Lies" as a supplemental reading alongside your time in the Bible to help you repent and put to death the sin in your life. 

HAVE KIDS?

Use the content below to dive deeper into the Bible Reading Plan with your family.

Family Application: God’s way is always better than our way.

• From today’s reading, we see Jacob repent. Repenting means choosing God’s way instead of our own way. When we repent, we turn away from our own way and turn to God and His ways. God wants us to follow His ways because He wants what is best for us.
• What is a sin that you need to repent in your life? This step might be something that is uncomfortable and painful to do, but God rejoices when we turn from our own ways and turn back to Him. It makes God so happy because He loves us so much. God loves you, and He wants to have a conversation with you.
• End this week with time worshipping God. Celebrate by asking God for help to choose His way instead of your own way. Plan something you can do as a family this weekend. It doesn’t have to be anything extremely extravagant, super time-consuming, or crazy expensive. Just like God wants to spend quality time with us, your family just wants to spend time with you. It could mean going for a 15-minute walk, playing a game of cards, building a blanket fort together - whatever works best for your family.
• Prayer: God, thank you for always being so wise. Your ways are always better than mine. Help me to choose Your way instead of my own way. God, help us to have joy that comes from You when we spend time together as a family. Amen.