Daily Devotions - Tuesday - October 13

Pretenders Part 2 

Continuing with the story of Jacob and Esau today, we will discuss what happened next.  If you haven’t read yesterday’s devotional, go back and check it out as it tells the story of the twins. 
Jacob got the blessing by pretending to be someone he wasn’t, but because of his deception, he had to spend the next 20 years on the run from Esau.   He got exactly what he wanted, but he never got to enjoy it! 
God cannot bless who we pretend to be. We don’t fool God with our disguises,
and the blessings we get when we pretend are not even real blessings that we can fully enjoy for ourselves
​
When you are tempted to pretend to be different than who God created you to be, you are living outside of His provision and may find that the blessing you thought would be sweet isn’t as wonderful as you’d expected. How tempting it is though to be someone other than ourselves. Brene Brown refers to us using armour throughout our lives in the world so we can protect ourselves from pain and loss.  What happens is that we forget to take that armour off and often are “guarded” in our personal lives.  Make an effort this week to look at ways you may take off your armour and be more authentic in your interactions, but understand there are also people who are safe to do this with and people you still need to have boundaries with.