Genesis 33:3b - "[Jacob] went on ... bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother [Esau]."

This devotion pairs with this weekend's Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

It's common for consumers to give ratings for a business or a service. If you know how, it's easy to assign 1 to 5 stars to that entity or person, based on your level of satisfaction with them. There are systems in place to review almost everything. You could even give a rating for this devotion! All these systems also mean that you can be reviewed as a consumer. If you've ever purchased something through an online marketplace or reserved a vacation rental or took a trip through a ride-share app, it's likely that you have an online rating—some number of stars based on your performance. Perhaps in future systems, we'll all have ratings. Someone could just look you up (or just look at you through their ocular implants) and know instantly whether you're a 5- or 2.5-star human.

That may be in the future, but humans have been rating each other for ages. People talk—over the fence, on the street, in the meeting, after the meeting. They chat you up. They give testimonials about how you've treated them, how you met standards and expectations, or failed to. And your rating goes up or down, accordingly. I was talking to a friend about this, and I bet you can relate to his comment. He said, "I like my rating systems for other people, but I don't like their rating systems for me."

These systems have been around a long time. They are closely tied to what the Bible calls the "elementary principles of the world" (see Galatians 4). On the one hand, these rating systems are corrupted, misapplied, and oppressive. And from them, Jesus has come to set us free by His death and resurrection. Risen from the dead, Jesus assures us that our value is based on God's fatherly love for us, not on our performance. But on the other hand, these systems are still rooted in God's Law, which is written on every human heart (see Romans 2:15). God uses these systems to keep our sinful nature in check, while He continues to raise us up as His beloved children. But, in Jesus, we are no longer slaves to these systems. We are, however, called to love people who live in these systems. So, how do we do that?

This episode from Jacob's life, recorded in Genesis 33, gives an answer. Jacob has just come from wrestling with God. God appeared in human form to confront Jacob. God wanted to get Jacob's attention, so he would trust that, win or lose, stars or no stars, God loves him and will bless him and will always be for him. By faith, Jacob is set free from the system. But now he must re-encounter his older brother, Esau. And Esau came from a system in which elder brothers were to be honored. But Jacob had behaved dishonorably. He had lied to his father, stole Esau's blessing, and ran away like a coward. "Zero stars for Jacob!" says Esau (see Genesis 27). Twenty years pass. Now Jacob—reassured that he is God's beloved child and free from the system—Jacob is called to love his brother who still lives in the system. So, he works within it to love his brother: he bows down seven times as he approaches Esau, calls him "my lord," gives him an expensive gift. He does this to honor him, according to the rules of the system.

As Christians, we are assured that God loves us. Our relationship with God doesn't depend on our ratings. At the same time, we are called to love people who live in these rating-systems. So, we need to learn them well, to "give a thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all," as it says in Romans 12—and also to know how not to lose all our stars. But the stars don't tell us what we're worth. Jesus does that. And He says we're worth dying for.

WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me. Help me to know how to love people according to Your will and, whenever possible, in ways that make sense to them. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Reflection Questions:

1. When was a time you lost "stars" in someone's eyes?

2. How did that affect you?

3. What would help you love people in ways that make sense to them?

Today's Bible Readings: Jeremiah 51, 30    Hebrews 7

To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"