Verse of the day: Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from
your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will
show you.
What has God
called us to that we have not completely obeyed Him in doing? Has He called us
to serve Him in some way, but we hesitate because of the price He has called us
to pay in order to carry out His command to go and serve? Are we not willing to
leave the place where we live, or the home that we live in? Will we be too far
away from extended family members or have to leave our birthplace? Are we so
attached to what we have and where we live that we are not willing to leave all
and go to wherever God sends us? Today, we see that this great man of faith,
Abram, was ultimately willing to go and be obedient to God’s call on his life.
However, we will also see that Abram was no different than we are today, and
that God can use even the most ordinary of men (or women) for His purposes, if
we would just obey and go. Hebrews 11:8 tells us that Abraham, when he was
called to go out, went by faith. The greatest thing that we could do in
responding to God’s call on our life is not to just go, but to go by faith. In
other words, trusting God to lead us and provide for us in our journey. What a
lot of Christians do not know or realize is that this event here in Genesis 12
is actually the second time God has called Abram out to go where God has told
him to go. Acts 7:2-4 recounts that Abram’s first call happened while he was in
Ur of Chaldea, before he dwelled in Haran, where God appeared unto him telling
him to leave his country, his father’s house, and go to the land He would show
him. However, instead of leaving, Abram’s father left Ur with Abram, Sarai, and
Lot, and went to Haran, where they stayed for five years. When Abram then
received this second call, he still only partially obeyed because though he left
his country, he did not completely leave his father’s house, choosing to take
Lot, who later proved to be troublesome to him in his journey. My dear
brethren, we do ourselves a disservice when we fail to obey God completely in
what He calls us to. We delay the blessings He desires for us, as we serve Him,
when we refuse to completely obey God’s commands, and direction in our lives,
and when we put others, or our things, before Him in our relationship with Him.
God promised Abram great blessings in return for his obedience; for in exchange
for leaving his country, God promised to make and him a great nation. For his
obedience, God promised He would bless him, and whoever blessed him would be
blessed, and all whoever cursed him would be cursed. The greatest promise, and
blessing, was that all the families of the earth would be blessed, and that
promise has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We, who are born again, have been
blessed with eternal life in Jesus. Today, we too have the opportunity to enjoy
God’s blessings when we forsake all to follow Him. Like Abram, later Abraham,
we do not need to know specifically where God will lead us, before we go. We
must simply obey and go. Matthew 19:29 reads, “And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or
lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal
life.” The bottom line is that we cannot out-give God. All that we have
is his, our families, our belongings, our homes, and anything else we gain here
on earth. So why would we forfeit heavenly rewards in exchange for holding on
to earthly things or relationships that will be of no eternal value once we
leave here to be with our God? We must hold on, loosely, to that which is earthly,
and be ready to give it up and give it to God, if necessary, should He calls us
to leave it all behind for His sake, for His purposes, and for His glory.
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