“The boys have loved watching the seven and a half minute video you made of us bringing Timothy home from the hospital,” my daughter told me during a recent visit. “Do you have it on your phone, Lolly?” asked Thomas, joining the conversation. We sat down together on the sofa as I opened my Google Photos app and swiped to the very bottom of Timothy’s album. “Thomas said Tim-a-tee,” Timothy chimed in just before I pressed play. I had the immense pleasure of watching their faces as they watched their much younger selves and I made a mental note to be sure and make another video, this time with both boys welcoming their new baby brother when September rolls around.
I had not watched that video since I made it two years ago. It had not popped up in my daily Google Memories to date but watching it with my grandsons was an absolute gift. I was reminded of just how much they’ve grown and how long I’ve been privileged to be part of their lives and I thanked God for each of them for the millionth time. Thanking Him is easy but sometimes it is good to be reminded.
Who was Abraham when God chose him and called him to leave his homeland and his family for a place that God would show him? Abram was a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem, born in Ur of the Chaldeans. He and his wife, Sarai set out with his father, Terah for Canaan but settled in Haran. After the death of his father, Terah, God called Abram out from his home.
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem.
There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh.
At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.”
And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.
There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.
Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner.”
Genesis 12:1-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.12.1-8.NLT
Abram was a sojourner on the earth, a traveler here for a time, one who God chose and used for His divine purposes. God saw Abram’s faith because as the Lord said to Samuel when he was sent to anoint David as king, though man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord sees the heart. Hebrews chapter eleven cites multiple actions as evidence of Abraham’s faith. Leaving his home was merely the beginning. Abraham is inexorably tied to the founding of the nation of Israel and Matthew traces his lineage to the birth of Jesus, fulfilling God’s ultimate promise to bless all nations through Abraham.
“This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
***
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.”
Matthew 1:1-2, 16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.1.1-2.NLT
God sent His own Son into the world and He chose Abraham to be the father of a nation through which Messiah would come. By the time Jesus entered His earthly ministry, the descendants of Abraham had all but forgotten their roots. They had elevated their identity as Israelites and the rites of temple worship above the God who originated both. Jesus, quoting Isaiah, called the temple leaders and teachers of the religious law hypocrites, saying, “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Matthew 15:8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.15.8.NLT
God knew their hearts would wander so after He brought them out of slavery in Egypt, He put in place reminders, festivals to be celebrated, repeated and passed on to their children and grandchildren. These rituals were never meant to replace God in their hearts and lives. Instead they were intended to strengthen their faith and dependence on Him as their Sovereign.
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession and you have conquered it and settled there, put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and bring it to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.
Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ‘With this gift I acknowledge to the Lord your God that I have entered the land he swore to our ancestors he would give us.’
The priest will then take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.
You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt.
His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation.
When the Egyptians oppressed and humiliated us by making us their slaves, we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors.
He heard our cries and saw our hardship, toil, and oppression.
So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders.
He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey!
And now, O Lord, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’
Then place the produce before the Lord your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him.
Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.
Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.”
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.26.1-11.NLT
My testimony, like Abraham’s, includes a time when I wandered, alienated from God. I lived for myself, under God’s wrath, making choices from immaturity or ignorance, then from outright defiance that failed to acknowledge or honor Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father. By the grace of God through faith, I accepted God’s gift of salvation, acknowledging Jesus as Lord and slowly began living in the Light of His Word by the power of His Spirit. This process of sanctification, of receiving His holiness and being made progressively more like Jesus through obedience to Him, sets believers apart in the world for service to Holy God.
“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
“But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”
“Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham.
And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message.
Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming.
He saw it and was glad.”
The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!””
John 8:31-33, 37, 56-58 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.8.56.NLT
Jesus called out those whose identity and allegiance were to Abraham over God. Abraham was a tool in his Master’s hand in much the same way that a scalpel serves my husband in surgery. God gave Jeremiah a similar picture related to Israel’s rebelliousness.
“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”
So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.
But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?
As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”
Jeremiah 18:2-4, 6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jer.18.2-6.NLT
“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise.
In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.
He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.
And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit.
It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”
Romans 4:20-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.4.20-25.NLT
“In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith.
God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”
Galatians 3:6-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.3.6-8.NLT
God would have us walk by faith and not by sight. God is sovereign. He is faithful to keep every promise He has made and He is good. We are His, bought at such a high price.
“This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.
Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.
And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.””
1 Corinthians 1:25-29, 31 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.1.25-31.NLT
Who were Jesus’s disciples when He called them? Some fishermen, a hated tax collector, a zealot, a doubter, a skeptic, a bunch of hotheads, and a betrayer who spent three years following Jesus around and by His power and authority, they healed the sick and raised the dead. Their testimonies are still changing the world as we know it. I came to faith in Christ because of their stories. I know how to walk with Him because of their imperfect examples.
“There is salvation in no one else!
God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.
They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”
Acts of the Apostles 4:12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.4.13.NLT
“Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God.
Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.”
Hebrews 13:7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.13.7.NLT
Worthy Of It All ~CeCe Winans https://youtu.be/TZ7prJcwB8o?is=04I57Qmx9Sse7obO
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