After deceiving his father and stealing Esau’s blessing, Jacob lived twenty years with the assumption that his brother’s anger would eventually catch up to him. So when he hears Esau is approaching with four hundred men, Jacob immediately prepares for disaster. He divides his family into groups for protection. He sends gifts ahead to soften Esau’s heart. Before the brothers ever see one another face-to-face, Jacob has already imagined Esau as an enemy.
Of course, the brothers had a history. But fear still has a way of doing that to us. It shapes how we see people and narrows our imagination, convincing us that resentment, division, and hostility are inevitable. The longer distance grows between people, the easier it becomes to believe distorted stories about one another.
But the night before Jacob meets Esau, he wrestles with God in the darkness. He leaves the encounter wounded, humbled, and maybe changed. Then the moment finally comes. Instead of attacking him, Esau runs toward Jacob, embraces him, and weeps with him. The future Jacob feared was not the future that came.
Then Jacob says something beautiful to his brother: “To see your face is like seeing the face of God.”
I see in that story that holiness is not only about private encounters with God. Holiness also shapes the way we see and treat people made in God’s image. We cannot claim to love God while holding on to bitterness, contempt, or the dehumanization of others.
Part of spiritual maturity is allowing God to confront the fears, assumptions, and resentments we have. It is learning to see others not through the lens of hostility, but through the mercy God has shown us. In a divided world, holy people become witnesses that reconciliation, humility, and grace are still possible.
Stay blessed...john
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