Living by Faith

Dear Readers,

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.”* (Genesis 12:1-4)

That’s what the Bible says. But for those who lived around Abram right then, I doubt very much that those thoughts came naturally to mind. Let’s imagine for a moment, shall we? Several neighbors are visiting, and Abram’s “case” is brought up:

Javan: “What a sad waste. I heard that he had some kind of vision or something, that he was supposed to leave, without any clear destination, and that he would become a great nation! He seemed like he had some leadership potential, and he could have amounted to something if he stayed around here.”

Barak: “Great nation, hah! He and that barren wife of his. All that roaming around, with no settled home, isn’t likely to improve matters much, either. He’ll do well to survive.”

Beor: “Good riddance, I’d say! His narrow-minded, ‘One God’ ways aren’t wanted around here, anyway. It looks like most of the family feel the same. I hear that only his nephew, Lot, is joining him.”

Living by faith is different than natural life. It’s so simple and obvious, yet it bears repeating: Living by faith is different than natural life. You are building on truths that are discerned through communication with heaven, not earth. If Abram folllowed the wisdom of earth, he would nevver have become Abraham, the father of the faithful. Imagine how the story of Christian in Pilgrm’s Progress would have turned out if he had not plugged his ears to the cries of family, friends, and neightbors, and ran on, crying, “Life, life, eternal life!”

Living by faith is also living as a child, without being childish. That is to say, it is a life that calles us to deny ourselves, take on responsibilities, and yet always be a trusting and obedient child in our Fatheer’s houres.

Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”* (Matthew 4:19) He said that to fishermen. He didn’t tell them that he wanted them to start directing the skills they had as fishermen to the glory of God, and he didn’t tell them to sit back and review all the principles that they had learned about fishing, and apply them now to preaching the Kingdom of God—he said, “Follow me.” Their part was to follow Jesss. It was Jesss’ part to make them “fishers of men.”

Abram’s part was to leave Haran and follow the Lord to the land that He would show him. It was God’s part to make a great nation out of him, and make him a blessing to all the families of the earth.

The life of faith is a life of responsibilities, but it is the responsibilities of a child in his Father’s House. We need to take on our part, and leave the rest to the Lord.

In His service,
The Editor