20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."
God promised an heir to Abraham, and through that heir, Isaac, God performed His promise. So, we can be challenged to believe God, to walk by faith, to know His promises, and to be convinced of His leadership in our lives. God has a call, a purpose, for each of our lives, and as we have a heart set on obedience and a mind that is intent on following God's will, we can be confident of His leadership as He puts us in a place of usefulness for Him.
We are continuing on our Advent journey, our Christmas "Advent-ure," if you will. The journey began where it all began for humanity, in Eden. Now, another of our stops in what I am calling, "Destination: Bethlehem" is in a place called Haran, where, as we read in Genesis 12, a man named Abram, later to be renamed Abraham, had an encounter with God.
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.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
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We are continuing on our Advent journey, our Christmas "Advent-ure," if you will. The journey began where it all began for humanity, in Eden. Now, another of our stops in what I am calling, "Destination: Bethlehem" is in a place called Haran, where, as we read in Genesis 12, a man named Abram, later to be renamed Abraham, had an encounter with God.
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.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
In Genesis 15, God gave more knowledge relative to that call:
5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
The story of Abraham can be a great reminder to each of us to make sure that we are listening to God's call and that we are taking steps of obedience to follow Him diligently.
In Montgomery 60 years ago today, a young woman decided to take a bold step. She was in a seat on a then-segregated Montgomery city bus and, as a Black woman, refused to give up that seat to accommodate a white passenger. She was arrested, and her arrest became the legal basis for challenging the laws that were on the books at that time. Five days later, the Montgomery Bus Boycott took place - originally it was set for one day and it eventually lasted almost a year.
Five years ago on the The Gospel Coalition website, Justin Taylor published a blog post that included excerpts from Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Taylor Branch's book, America in the King Years. Branch describes Rosa Parks as “a tireless worker and churchgoer, of working class station and middle-class demeanor." As the late Chuck Colson expressed in a 1999 Breakpoint commentary, when Parks was told to move...
In Romans 4:16, we can read: "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all..."
We may not have the magnanimous call that Abraham possessed, a call that had a tremendous bearing on the course of human history and yours and my salvation. But, who knows what the impact of one simple step might be. Just look at Rosa Parks - a simple act resulted in a series of events that altered the course of history. She believed that she was following God's will and that He would be with her to give her strength.
So, that returns us to the consideration of yours and my call. There may be what we would consider to be large things that God perhaps has directed us to do. But, then, there are the simple acts of obedience to which He is calling us on a daily basis. Before Abraham became the father of many nations, there were steps that God called him to take - the first was to leave his current place of residence. Before the larger goal is reached, there are comparatively smaller steps in which God may direct us.
So, our challenge today is to recognize that God wants to use each of us. We can then get our hearts in the right position to receive God's instruction. And, when we hear and receive, we can believe that God is calling us and will direct and sustain us every step of the way.
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
The story of Abraham can be a great reminder to each of us to make sure that we are listening to God's call and that we are taking steps of obedience to follow Him diligently.
In Montgomery 60 years ago today, a young woman decided to take a bold step. She was in a seat on a then-segregated Montgomery city bus and, as a Black woman, refused to give up that seat to accommodate a white passenger. She was arrested, and her arrest became the legal basis for challenging the laws that were on the books at that time. Five days later, the Montgomery Bus Boycott took place - originally it was set for one day and it eventually lasted almost a year.
Five years ago on the The Gospel Coalition website, Justin Taylor published a blog post that included excerpts from Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Taylor Branch's book, America in the King Years. Branch describes Rosa Parks as “a tireless worker and churchgoer, of working class station and middle-class demeanor." As the late Chuck Colson expressed in a 1999 Breakpoint commentary, when Parks was told to move...
...Parks was convinced that to do so would be wrong--and she refused to get up. "Since I have always been a strong believer in God," she says, "I knew that He was with me, and only He could get me through that next step."
Parks wasn't the first black person to refuse to move to the back of the bus. Earlier that year, a woman had been carried off the bus clawing and kicking. Another woman had used profanity during her arrest. But the local NAACP declined to rally behind these women.
But Parks's behavior throughout her arrest was above reproach. Because of this, and because of her well-known exemplary character, Alabama civil-rights leaders thought Parks's arrest signaled the right time to act. They launched the famous year-long Montgomery bus boycott, and the rest is history.Colson continues:
The story of Rosa Parks is a reminder of what a central role Christian faith has played in the civil-rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Christian minister who turned the other cheek in the face of violence. And Jackie Robinson's Christian faith was what led Branch Rickey--another devout Christian--to choose him as the man to break the color barrier in baseball.In a post in 2013, to observe what would have been Rosa Parks' 100th birthday, Dr. Russell Moore wrote:
When Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat, she was affirming an ancient truth of the reality of natural law.
The bus boycott, sparked by her, was a revolt against an unjust law. Mrs. Parks, and the activists she motivated, never argued the law wasn’t supported by the majority. They argued the law was wrong. As Martin Luther King Jr. also communicated in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” civil law rests on a broader foundation of a law that is written in the heart, a law that transcends human cultures and majoritarian whims.So, how do you respond to the call of God? Abraham obviously responded positively, and played a critical role in God's plan to redeem fallen humanity.
In Romans 4:16, we can read: "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all..."
We may not have the magnanimous call that Abraham possessed, a call that had a tremendous bearing on the course of human history and yours and my salvation. But, who knows what the impact of one simple step might be. Just look at Rosa Parks - a simple act resulted in a series of events that altered the course of history. She believed that she was following God's will and that He would be with her to give her strength.
So, that returns us to the consideration of yours and my call. There may be what we would consider to be large things that God perhaps has directed us to do. But, then, there are the simple acts of obedience to which He is calling us on a daily basis. Before Abraham became the father of many nations, there were steps that God called him to take - the first was to leave his current place of residence. Before the larger goal is reached, there are comparatively smaller steps in which God may direct us.
So, our challenge today is to recognize that God wants to use each of us. We can then get our hearts in the right position to receive God's instruction. And, when we hear and receive, we can believe that God is calling us and will direct and sustain us every step of the way.
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