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The Upside Down World, Week 4, Day 6

by David Joynt on October 06, 2017


 

GENESIS 33:1-10

 

The experience of being forgiven by God can free us to take risks in relationships, to see others differently, to offer grace in unexpected ways. However, this story is also a warning. Grace withheld creates burdens. There is a burden for others who have mistreated us or let us down. They must carry this knowledge, and include this failure in their picture of their own identity. They must live as diminished people, carrying the burden of guilt and shame. 

 

 

Do you sense Jacob’s fear of Esau?

 

 

What does this say about what he has been carrying?

 

 

What do you make of verse 10?

 

FAMILY TIME—

Talk about why we do confession at church and how important it is to review our day and ask God to forgive us every night. 

 

Tags: confession, forgive

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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