Date: 14 July 2024, 9.30 am
Speaker: Ps Luwin Wong Sermon Text: Genesis 26:34–28:9
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TRANSCRIPT
If you are a professional track athelete, there two major events in your calendar: The Olympics and The World Championships.
For the last 20 years, on paper, the US mens 4x100m relay team is a medal contender in each of these competitions In reality, however, the team didn’t even finish the race or were disqualified 6 times out of the 11 of times that these meets were held.
It had nothing to do with speed. They were fast. On paper, they were perennial podium contenders. In reality, they repeatedly failed to cross the finish line. Why? They just couldn’t figure out how to pass the baton.
Here’s a summary list of their baton mishaps:
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a U.S. runner dropped the baton during an exchange.
In the 2009 world championships, two runners exchanged the baton before they entered the exchange zone, and the team was disqualified.
In 2011, an American runner collided with a British runner in the lane next to him and fell just as he was attempting to hand off the baton.
In 2015, the U.S. team made the exchange, this time, after they had crossed the exchange zone and again was disqualified.
In the last Olympics held in Tokyo in 2021, this happened:
By the time the outgoing runner reached out to grab hold of the baton, the incoming runner was right up against him. All he got was a handful of this teammates shirt. The gold medal favourites failed to even make it to the final race.
If there’s a way to blow a baton exchange, the United States men’s 4x100-relay team has done it.
We mentioned before that the Christian faith can be likened to a relay race, where each generation as the responsibility of passing on the baton of faith to the succeeding generation, and the younger generation has the responsibility of receiving it well and continuing the race.
In our passage today, we see a negative example of this being done. We are shown in the family life of the patriarch Isaac, how not to pass on the baton. For all the mistakes that the US men relay team has made, no one has actually attempted to pass their baton to a runner from a different nation.
Imagine if that happened at the Olympics in Paris later this month.
Noah Lyles wearing the US track uniform in red white and blue, sprints down the lane and enters the exchange zone, and instead of passing it into the outstretched hand of his compatriot, he shouts, “China catch!” and he tosses the baton 3 lanes across to the runner in red. The Press would have a field day with it. The moment would live on in sporting infamy. And Republicans will no doubt blame the Biden administration for the travesty that had occurred.
It is unthinkable that such a thing would take place, but that is exactly what we witness in our text this morning. Isaac attempted the unthinkable.
Before we get to him, let’s take a look at how the author frames the story. It is framed, book-ended, at the beginning and at the end, by two marriage reports. But before you go, “aww, that’s sweet… so romantic. Wholesome”. No, it’s not that kind of story. It’s a tragedy all around, start to finish. Let’s take a look at the text.
But before we do, let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
As we open up your word this morning, will you graciously open the eyes of heart to grasp your truth, your life-giving, life-changing truth that sets us free to fulfil our mission here on earth, for the glory of your kingdom to come.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
GEN 26:34-35 34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
Here’s the opening marriage report. Esau took two Hittite women for his wives. As you know, the Hittites lived in Canaan, they were a Canaanite tribe. They worshipped Canaanite gods, they had no regard for Abraham’s God, and the original hearers would have recognised them as Israel’s great enemy. The Canaanites were their existential threat.
So this is not a happy marriage report. And indeed, the text goes on to say, they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. That’s how our passage today begins.
And this is how it concludes:
GEN 28:6-9 6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob… and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” 8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son…
Apparently, Esau didn’t know better when he married his two Hittite wives. So he tried to make amends. And how did he do it? He when and married a Ishmaelite wife.
Ishmael, his uncle whom God said would settle “over against his kinsmen”, that is, the Ishmaelites would live at odds with the Israelites.
Picture a guy who grew up in a Christian family. And the first two girlfriends he brings home to meet his parents are Hindus. And his parents give him a talking to and say to him, “Son, we’re Christians, we can’t be marrying Hindus. Do you understand? He says, yes I hear you. I get it.”
And then goes out, and the next girlfriend he brings home for dinner – she’s Buddhist.
You go, how clueless is this dude? What is going on here? Did he go to church? Did he attend Sunday school and Youth ministry? How is he so absolutely clueless about the basics of Christian living?
And we have to ask the same questions of Esau? He married an Ishmaelite thinking that that would remedy the problem with his Canaanite wives and win the approval of his parents? How did he get so clueless? What’s going on in his household?
And we recall that he was close to his father. And so to appreciate what has happened to Esau, it would help to understand what Isaac was like.
And we are introduced to him as an old man.
GEN 27:1-4 1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.
The first thing we learn about Isaac is that he is old. In his winter years.
3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
The other thing we learn about Isaac is this: he loves good food. This old man loves good food. Which shouldn’t call for much attention, if not for the fact that the author take pains to drive home this point.
GEN 27:3-4, 7, 9, 14, 17, 31 3 …hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love,
7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food,
9 I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves
14 prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.
17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared
31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father
So pop quiz, what does Isaac love? Delicious food. Pity he’s in Canaan, he would have been happy in Singapore.
But it’s not a good look. For a Patriarch of Israel, to be described as having his heart captured not by God, nor even his wife, but delicious food. Make no mistake about it, it is an indictment on his character. Isaac is living to eat. We don’t know when it started, but at present, he is well and truly living for leisure. His heart set on worldly pleasures.
Notice how closely connected food and blessing are in Isaac’s story.
GEN 27:3-4, 7, 19, 25, 31 3 …go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.
19 eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.
25 Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.
31 “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”
To Isaac, blessing is bound up, not with God and his word, but with good food.
Now, you may say, Ps Luwin is being too harsh on the old man. What’s the problem with enjoying good food in one’s old age? Didn’t Dn Jeremiah tell us last Sunday that we should enjoy the gifts of God?
“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart” – that’s Ecclesiastes 9:7.
It has to do with how Isaac is overall described in chapter 27. It’s not simply that he’s enjoying the gifts of God in his life on earth, the impression we get is that he has become worldly. Isaac has forgotten spiritual things; he is fixated on worldly pleasures. He does not walk by faith; he is guided rather by his physical senses.
And we will read of how he relies on, but is deceived by, his five physical senses.
Here’s the situation. He intends to bless Esau his firstborn, in contravention to the birth oracle given by God, where the “older shall serve the younger”. Which means this is nothing short of disobedience to God.
But it is Jacob who shows up to his room with food in his hand to obtain the blessing, and Isaac is trying to determine who is who.
A 80 year old man was looking in the mirror, and he said to his wife, “Honey, getting old is depressing. My cheeks are freckled, my belly is sagging, I have barely any hair left on my head, my teeth are falling out, I look terrible. Is there anything left in this old body that that is still good?” His wife replies, “Well, it sounds like your eyesight is still working very well”.
GEN 27:1, 21-23, 25 1 …his eyes were dim so that he could not see
Isaac didn’t even have that. In trying to figure out who it was that walked in his room, his eyes can’t help, he is nearly blind.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands.
His sense of touch fooled him as well. Because Rebekah had put the skin of young goats on Jacob’s arms. He heard Jacob’s voice, but his sense of hearing did not help to determine the truth.
25 And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him…
And he was fooled by his sense of smell as well, because Rebekah had Jacob put on Esau’s clothes.
But here’s the thing. There shouldn’t have been a need for all these shenanigans in the first place. If he had only done the right thing and determined to bless Jacob instead.
GEN 27:18, 21, 24 18 “Who are you, my son?”
21 “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
And each step of the way, Isaac had his doubts, he kept asking, “Who are you? Are you really Esau? Are you really my son Esau?”
And each time Isaac asks the question, the hearer of the story ought to go, “Precisely Isaac! Who are you trying to bless? Which son are you intending to bless? It is really Esau? Is it really Esau? Because it should be Jacob, as you should well know! If you only brought to mind the word of God, and walked by faith rather than favoritism.
In the end, the right son was blessed, but no thanks to Isaac.
GEN 27:30-33 30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” 32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”
Do you see, Isaac affirmed the blessing of Jacob, because he knew Jacob was chosen by God, just as he has been God’s chosen son of the promise, rather than Ishmael his elder brother. Sadly, he has neglected his spiritual responsibility of passing on the baton. He forgot that he living for the covenant promises, and was living for leisure and pleasure instead – intending to bless the wrong son for a bowl of good food because he loves eating good food rather than doing the will of God.
But that’s a danger that the seniors face. If the temptation of youth is arrogance, the temptation of the aged is sloth.
24 years ago, John Piper gave a sermon that shaped a generation of American Christians. It was titled “Don’t waste your life”. One illustration from that sermon stood out in particular.
He said, “I’ll read you what a tragedy is.”
He pulled out a page from Reader’s Digest.
He read it to them:
‘Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.’
“That’s a tragedy,” he told the crowd.
And there are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. And I get 40 minutes to plead with you—don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you—don’t buy that dream… As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did: “Here it is, Lord—my shell collection. And I’ve got a good swing. And look at my boat.”
He said that a tragedy is to show up at the gates of the kingdom at the end of your life, saying to Jesus “Here are my seashells”.
But that’s the dream isn’t it. It’s called retirement. The time of your earthly life were leisure is the goal. Leisure is the plan. Leisure is the mission of your life. Christianity knows nothing of such a perspective.
Leisure comes at the end of your life, in the kingdom, in new creation. Whilst we are on earth, the mission is the Great Commission, always, to the end of the age.
Let’s look at the example of Paul.
2 TIMOTHY 4:6-8 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
And elderly Paul writes to young Timothy, “I have finished the race.” No runner slows down as they approach the finish line. No, they go all out, the expend the strength, they push hardest at the end. That’s how you finish the race.
So seniors, stay on course, fix your eyes on the prize – it isn’t retirement. It’s life in the kingdom. That’s our rest. That’s our eternal Sabbath. That’s when we lay down our heads and put down our tools and rest in eternal joy. But it is not now, it is not here, it is not yet.
As long as God gives us breath and strength and a tomorrow, we stay on course, we stay on mission, we do not get side-tracked by sloth, or distracted by leisure. We fix our eyes on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, and we live to glorify God by being and making disciples of Christ. That’s how we pass on the baton to the next generation. We show them that God is never forgotten, never relegated to the periphery of life, never second-place to leisure, no matter how old we may be.
No wedding couple slackens in their preparation as the wedding day approaches. Quite the opposite. The urgency intensifies their relationship and their activities. And that’s what we’re heading towards at the end of life. A wedding.
REVELATION 19:6-8 6 “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Seniors, there is righteous deeds that remain to be done. We face a task unfinished. Let’s stay on mission and make ourselves ready as the glorious bride of Christ.
Seniors: Don’t live for pleasure; live for Christ, stay on mission.
Next, a word to the the families. Families: Don’t live as factions. Be united.
There is just one detail I want us to notice about Isaac’s family in this debacle of passing on the baton. They are never together as one family.
GEN 27:1, 5, 6, 24, 30, 42a, 42b 1 When Isaac was old… he called Esau his older son…
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau…
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob…
24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
30 when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting…
42a But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah…
42b So she sent and called Jacob her younger son…
Isaac and Esau are always together.
Rebekah and Jacob are always together.
Isaac and Jacob were together, but only because Isaac thought it was Esau.
Rebekah and Isaac are never together. Never consulted about the blessing of the son. She had to eavesdrop and overhear.
You would think that It would have been a simple matter of correcting Isaac. Instead of scheming and deceiving, Rebekah could have just said to Isaac, “Honey, you know you’re about to bless the wrong son right? God has chosen Jacob, not Esau, to carry on the blessings of Abraham.” In a normal family, that would have been the case.
But this family is way past that. They are fractured, divided, existing in rival factions. If this family were made into a TV show, it would not be “Under One Roof”, it would be “Survivor”. Those under 30 have no idea what I’m talking about. Ask your parents.
The factions go so far as to come to this:
GEN 27:41 41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Esau’s immediate reaction to Jacob’s blessing to murder him. He bypassed shouting, kicking and screaming, arguing, fighting, you know, usual sibling things. He bypassed all of that – straight to murder.
And the one thing that stayed his hand was his father. He did not want to upset his father, so he intends to kill Jacob only after Isaac dies. But wait a minute. What about Rebekah’s feelings? She’s the one that loves Jacob most. Esau could care less about his mother’s feelings apparently. Once his father passes, he’ll kill his brother. His mother just has to deal with it. Why?
GEN 25:28 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
Friends, this is deeply fractured family. Where parents aren’t talking to one another, where favouritism is obvious and children are taking sides. This is not the home environment in which the baton of faith is passed to the next generation. This is not how you pass the baton.
Families, be united. That is the will of God. That is how you pass the baton to your children. In an environment of unity and love.
EPHESIANS 5:31-32 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
The marriage relationship, the one-flesh union between husband and wife is designed to display the shape of the gospel. It is a signpost to the union between Christ and his church. And what is the nature of this union?
Paul spells it out in the same letter.
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The hallmark of the church, the spiritual family is one-ness. A one-ness maintained by looking to the interest of others and not just of ourselves, a one-ness that emerges from humbly considering your spouse more significant than yourself. It’s a one-ness that is created by loving your family as Christ loves us.
I’m not saying it’s simple in reality. I’m not pretending it’s easy to do. But running a relay seldom is. You have to work hard at passing the baton on properly. And loving, united family is the best way to do it. There is always room for grace, but unity in the family is normatively what it takes to showcase the gospel and pass on the gospel to your children.
Seniors: Don’t live for pleasure; live for Christ, stay on mission.
Families: Don’t live as factions; Be united.
Finally, a word to the Young: Don’t live by pragmatism; Walk by faith.
What we notice about Jacob’s actions is that they are not driven by principle or governed by morality, they are done out of pragmatism.
When his mother cooked up a plan to deceive Isaac to obtain the blessing for Jacob, he objected, but not on moral grounds, but out of fear that he may get caught and suffer a curse instead.
GEN 27:10-13 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”
The moment Rebekah said, “let the curse be on me, my son”, he apparently went “sounds good to me”. There was no hint of moral qualms over deceiving his father.
And from this episode, his name Jacob was henceforth associated with “deception”.
GEN 27:35-36 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.”
Jacob means “he grabs the heel” and to this day, we use the expression “you’re pulling my leg” to mean that someone is trying to fool us. Jacob the deceiver. This episode was name-changing, and life-defining. It will not be the last time he lies to Esau.
When we are young, getting ahead seems to be all-important. Results tends to be everything. That’s how we know we are worth something. And the temptation is to adopt a utilitarian framework of decision-making. Doing what works, with the ends justifying the means.
But that is not the way to live.
The wisdom literature cautions us:
PROV 14:12 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
And it proved true in Jacob’s case.
His brother literally wanted to kill him. And the alternative wasn’t far off either.
GEN 27:43-45; 28:5 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away— 45 until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?
5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
The alternative to death was exile, leaving behind everything he ever knew and loved and had, to enter a foreign land hoping to survive on the good graces of distant relatives. Hardly feels like he just obtained a blessing does it? I bet it felt more a curse.
And for Rebekah too. She assumed it would be a brief exile, and she would send for her beloved Jacob soon after. Well, days turned to months and months turned to years, and Jacob would remain away from home for 20 years. And poor Rebekah never saw her beloved Jacob again.
So much pain, so much sorrow, so many tears, all because they decided to take matters into their own hands, rather than to trust that God’s will can and will be accomplished God’s way.
PSALM 37 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Friends, hear me, God is omniscient – he knows how to get things done. And God is omnipotent – he can get things done. You never have to give him a pragmatic helping hand. You simply stick to his way of doing things. Even if they seem impractical and foolish, from a human perspective.
That’s how God always accomplished his purposes.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-19, 22-24 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
His way is always better, it’s always wiser. Forget pragmatism. Walk by faith and trust in God’s way instead. Who would have guessed that dying on a cross as a servant would be Jesus’ final victory over death as a king? But that is the way of God.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2 1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
So even in Paul’s ministry, as concerned for the lost and conversion as he may be, he is unconcerned about pragmatism or popularity. He just wants to do the right thing and doing things rightly.
Perhaps this could apply to so-called “missionary dating”. You date a non-believer, and to ease your conscience you say to yourself, I’m helping God out here. I’m bringing someone closer to Christ, I’m bringing his will to pass through this relationship.
Jacob’s example tells us, forget that. God doesn’t need your worldly wisdom and foolish means to save a soul. He can save perfectly well, thank you very much. Jacob would have received the blessings of the firstborn one way or another; God has decreed it, and it will be done. But it would have been far less grievous and sorrowful if it wasn’t done through disgraceful and cunning deception.
Or it could even be as basic as keeping the Sabbath. You may say, as a student, I’m sure God wants me to get good grades, I can serve him better with a good career rather than a mediocre one. And that means I have to work through the Sabbath, I’ll advance the cause of the kingdom that way.
That’s not the way. Keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath will keep you. God knows how to advance his kingdom in his way, and even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Renounce pragmatism, and walk by faith instead.
Seniors: Don’t live for pleasure; live for Christ, stay on mission.
Families: Don’t live as factions; Be united.
The Young: Don’t live by pragmatism; Walk by faith.
So three warnings, and three exhortations. Where’s the good news, where’s the grace in this story?
The good news is this:
EXODUS 3:13-15 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
We witnessed the foolishness of Isaac and the deceptiveness of Jacob in our text today. They were brought out as negative examples to avoid. Theirs is a cautionary tale. But many years later, when God appeared to Moses and Moses asked for his name, he identifies himself with this foolish Isaac and this deceptive Jacob.
“Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’
This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Friends, our families may be dysfunctional, we may be foolish and deceptive, loving leisure and distracted from the Great Commission. But our weaknesses will not have the final say. Grace will.
If God is willing to identify himself with Isaac and Jacob, there is hope for us too.
God persists with the foolish, he identifies with us who are weak, and he is not ashamed to call himself our God. This is grace. And through faith in Christ, not by the strength of our righteousness can we be assured that God is our father and we will receive the eternal spiritual blessings as his beloved children.
What a faithful God have we. Who does not repay us according to our folly, but lavishes upon us grace upon grace. Who is patient with our weaknesses, whose mercies are new every morning, whose steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. What a faithful God have we.
Is he not worth loving, is he not worth serving, is he not worth living for, all the days of our earthly lives, and from generation to generation, this day forth until he returns in glory?
If so, let us live this way. Let us live his way, let us run the race and pass on the baton of faith, for his ongoing work in the world, and for his kingdom come.
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