Get ready for Church. Clean yourselves up, get rid of the sin that is weighing you down. In essence that's what Jacob told his family. God told Jacob to return to Bethel, the place where God first appeared to Jacob. This place has sacred meaning to Jacob so he told his family to clean themselves up before they go.
We don't have to clean ourselves up before we go to church. We can come as we are. We can go with the sin that is clinging to us. Jesus will remove it. We can go with our scepticism and Jesus will embrace us. We can go with our feelings of guilt and shame. Jesus already paid the price for us.
So go as you are and He will help us put off our old self and put on His righteousness like a brand new garment, a robe of salvation and acceptance.
Ephesians 4:22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Genesis 35:1-7 NLT
1 Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau.”
2 So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing. 3 We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem. 5 As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.
6 Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan. 7 Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.
Blessings, Cecilia
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