Lesson 19 - Jacob's Compromise and Commitment:
 The Cost of Discipleship
 Read Genesis 34-36 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gen.34

In the end of the last chapter Jacob bought a plot of land in Shechem among the Canaanites instead of going on to Bethel as God commanded. Now we see how compromise with worldly things brings disgrace and tragedy to Jacob’s family.

Because the people of Canaan coveted Jacob’s wealth, they were willing to do anything they had to do to get this family involved with them to the point of marriage. They knew if such marriages between them and this family took place, the family would soon become swallowed up in their own culture and ways and beliefs.

God calls Jacob and his family away from this place, and asks him to return to the place where God had met him the first night he fled from his brother, to Bethel. There God reconfirms His new name for Jacob, he would now be called Israel, which means “one who strives with God.” Revelation 2:17 and 3:12 also promise each of us who follow Jesus Christ that He will give us a new name, a name that shows we belong to Him forever.

God also commanded Jacob to make sure all idols and foreign gods were removed from his camp. God would later make this part of His commandments to the nation of Israel, they were to have no other gods in their lives. Jesus repeated this commandment in Mark 12:30 when He said we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. That leaves no room for any other gods in our life.


Do we ever compromise our Christian life by trying to live close enough to the world’s ways that we can take part in them when we wish? When we do so, we are making those pleasures our idols. They are so important to us that we will choose to disobey God rather than give them up. God says He is a jealous God – He loves us so very much, and doesn’t want us to be hurt by the things we might choose as more important than Himself. He knows the evil that worldly pleasures want to do to us if only they can capture our attention enough to make us want what they have. But God can see clearly the hurt and damage these things will do in our life, and calls us to live a life separated to Himself. The Bible calls this holiness – and we are to be holy just as God is holy – see 1 Peter 1:15-16

*What idols in your life is God asking you to leave behind so you can come live where He wants you to be?