“I love travelling,” Gordon told students during Tuesday’s
Spiritual Emphasis Week chapel, “but the hardest part is going through customs.
You have to answer all those questions, and I can get really confused.”
Once, when he was travelling to California for work, Gordon
decided to economize on airfare and fly from Michigan, so he made the crossing
into the USA at Detroit. At the US border, he got sent over to secondary
inspection, and had to “answer some questions.”
Yet in our daily lives, we often try not to be different.
“We want to look and be like everyone else,” Gordon said. “In the culture we live
in, we forget sometimes” that being unique is good.
Turning to the Biblical story of Jacob, Gordon read from
Genesis 25:23-27 – the account of Jacob’s birth.
“The Lord said to [Rebekah],
'Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples
from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will
serve the younger.'
“When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin
boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a
hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with
his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.
“The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man
of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.”
Gordon said the passage suggests that God had a different plan
for Jacob than for his twin brother Esau, that Jacob looked physically
different from his twin, and that as the twins grew up, it was clear Jacob’s personality
was different.
Yet the passage says that Jacob was “content,” Gordon said. Despite
the fact he looked different, had a different personality, and had a
different life path, “he was completely satisfied with who he was and what he had.”
Gordon asked students if they feel the same way.
“Here is my question for you this morning: Are you content
with who you are? Are you satisfied with how God has made you unique and different
from every other person on the planet?”
Gordon shared three tips for contentment: accept yourself,
focus on the good, and be thankful.
Learn how to accept the cards you have been given, Gordon
said. Focus on the good in yourself and stop focusing on what social media
shows you is good about others. Many people think they need to be awesome to be
somebody, but the truth is you are unique and awesome just the way you are.
Finally, thank God for designing you the way you are.
Just as the border guard eventually told Gordon “You’re
good, you can go,” God has the same message for you, Gordon said.
“You’re good.”
If Jesus thought you were good enough to die for, “I hope
you can truly accept who you are.”
A student praise team led in worship with "Glorious Day," "Love Like This," and "We Are The Free."
In small groups after lunch, students discussed the following questions:
1. Why do you feel God made everyone different?
2. Do you believe God has a different plan for everyone’s life?
Why or why not?
3. What are three things that make you different than everyone
else?
4. How can you be content with being unique and different in a
culture that pressures us to be, look and act like everyone else?
Spiritual Emphasis Week continues for the rest of the week with chapels at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and at 12:30 on Friday. All are welcome.
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