HAND ME DOWN
What it means to be CHOSEN
June 5th, 2023
Colossians 3:12-14, ‘So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.’ (MSG)
THICKER ‘AN WATER
If you were not first-born in your family, that means you will always be the second or third—and so-on—or younger child. It also likely means you wore a lot of hand-me-downs, or the things belonging to older family members were passed down over time to you. You know what else? Sometimes, you even inherit the family traits, and as you pass through the halls at your elementary school, you might hear teachers mumble stuff like, ‘Lawdie, please don’t let him be like his big brother!’ or ‘I thought them’s was the last of that family…now you’re tellin’ me here’s another one?!’
There are good things that get handed down also, like Momma’s wedding dress or Gramma’s wedding ring or maybe an heirloom set of China or silver, perhaps a vintage broach or a classic car or the family homestead. Maybe Dad and Grandad and even Great Grandad were all accountants or doctors or lawyers, and now, you are stepping into their treads and headed off to an Ivy League school to walk in the family profession. On some wall somewhere, there hangs an intricate tapestry with your family tree woven into its very fibers.
In Genesis, we find twins being birthed into this world. Esau, whom his father loved, arrived first, and Jacob, adored by his mother, followed literally in Esau’s footsteps, clinging to his heel. Their growing-up years would be tainted by all the tantrums twins hold against one another, all the entanglements and envy plaguing any hope of familial relationships. Then, rumor has it, Esau returns, famished from the field, and in his hunger, trades his birthright—being the first-born—for a pot of stew to squelch his starvation. We too have squandered our birthright and been given hand-me-downs instead, not really aware of—or perhaps so desperate, we are uncaring—what we are trading.
For their entire lifetimes, these two sons would be in hot pursuit of one another, the conflict magnanimous and deadly much of the time. They shared genes, but by goodness, that’s all they shared! Even in the final paragraphs that scripted their lives, they still battled the bloodlines they were linked to. Do you know? you can pick many things, but your blood, you can’t. In fact, their father passes, while still duped by the people who were supposed to love and protect him the most. It takes a lot (of greed) to climb into the belly of a dead animal so you can be mistaken as an animal by feel and smell from a blind man!
For most of his life, Jacob wore ‘hand-me-downs’, unhappy and unaccepting of who God had purposed him to be. In his own right, Jacob had great potential and had a lot going for him, but he continued to try to be someone God never created him to be. It would be a lifelong struggle for him , so much so he would spend an entire night in darkness, wrestling with God over his calling. I would be curious to know what blessing Jabo and his future generations might have missed because Jacob never settled into what God had for him; instead he fashioned a life trying to take what was rightfully meant for his brother.
It would be wise for us to accept ourselves as God made us and sees us rather than trying to be someone we were never created to be. If you are blooming tulips, be the best tulip-bloomer there is, rather than trying so hard to bloom roses. The Lord created someone else to be a rosebush, but He made beautiful YOU to be a tulip. Be the most fragrant and gorgeous Gardenia anyone has ever seen if that is who God planted you to become!
you are His REMNANT
