Refusing to Let Go

Genesis 32:10a

I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

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I know you wanna leave me,
But I refuse to let you go,
If I have to beg, plead for your sympathy,
I don't mind 'cause you mean that much to me.

"Ain't too Proud to Beg" written and performed by The Temptations

When we think about the matters of faith, we think of them from our point of view. This is more than business as usual, it's the best perspective we have. Today, thinking of "The Temptations," I want to consider this from the other side of the coin.

God knows that we are a sin-soaked people. That's the way of life. We will do everything in our power to harm ourselves in sometimes the laziest and in other times the most creative ways imaginable. Television shows and entire television networks have been built around programming around people being stupid in imaginative ways. Johnny Knoxville and MTV created a cottage industry around the aptly named "Jackass" collection.

In our sin sick ways, we try to leave God everyday, that's just a plain and simple truth. It's God who refuses to let us go. God has begged and pleaded for our return, our reconciliation. He even sent his Son to take us from our own demise.

We have problems living into the redemption. This is true. We have trouble even conceiving what it cost God to pay for our disobedience. The least we can be is thankful. The least we can be is humble. Jacob showed this humility.

Jacob could at least acknowledge that he was not worth of God's steadfast love and faithfulness. Jacob could at least acknowledge that he was the servant of God. He realized that what God had done in his life and for the life of his people was now and would in the future be great.

Now, imagine how much love comes in the words "I don't mind 'cause you mean that much to me." It is up to us to show even a shimmer of that love in return to God and to one another.