We all read our Bibles with admiration and respect for it's characters, but if you met a man like Jacob today, odds are you probably would not like him. Jacob was a backstabbing, conniving, opportunist if there ever was one. He was all about Jacob, all of the time. The bad news is that we are all much like Jacob in this way. We tend to be selfish and self-serving every day in every way. The good news is that even though this was the case with Jacob, we can see from the scripture that Jacob is the one that God had chosen to bless.   If we were to start in the Genesis account of Jacob, would find a man that had tricked his brother, and was running away from the family drama that he just had created. On his skedaddle from his brother, Jacob stops to rest, laying his head on a rock near a place that would later be called Bethel.  Now keep in mind, Jacob was not running towards God, or even looking for God, but (SPOILER ALERT) God was looking for Jacob. Jacob saw a vision of

The phrase “Semper Reformanda” which has come to mean, “always to be reformed” or “always reforming” has become quite popular in our day, especially among the reformed resurgence movement. This phrase is held by many as a motto for their faith and rejection of what is seemingly a watered down for of religion that has been promoted in the United States over the last 100 years especially. While it may be true that we are to be “always reforming” in our personal lives, that is to say we are to be daily conforming to the image of Christ, as a church we must ensure that it is the scriptures that are the bases for any reform in which we are participating. We can set a dangerous precedent by allowing a “reformation” of our beliefs to be the driver of any change in our beliefs. This was never the intent of those that coined the phrase. Michael Horton points out that, “the Latin verb reformanda is passive, meaning the church is not “always reforming” but is “always being reformed”. ( Source ) H