FAITH THAT MAKES US GREAT

Genesis 15:6 “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith.”

The story of Abraham offers us the example of how life really is. It is the example of how real faith works. We hear God's call. We set out to follow. We have real victory. We leave behind old ways. We find that the guilt and bondage of sin are gone. But we also find that we aren't "saints" overnight. There are things that come up which we could never have imagined. We find that we don't arrive in heaven by non-stop express. And the "promise" that challenged us at first hasn't seemed to take the shape that we thought it should. Other people seem to have the answers down pat. But somehow we aren't sure we even know all the questions yet.

When we were first saved we somehow believed that God wanted us to be special to him; to fulfill some noble and holy mission or purpose. Somehow we thought God wanted us to be "great." But we realize that there aren't many truly "great" people around. We certainly don't feel "great." And so we are tempted to "just settle." We're tempted to say, "Oh well, all right--this isn't exactly how I had envisioned it . . . but I'm far better off than I was before." And it is true we are.

Abraham had been greatly blessed by God, because he was obedient. But the time for the relationship to grow was at hand. God was challenging Abraham to center his faith in relationship, and not in experience, or experiences, or blessings, or anything else. It was time for Abraham to expect beyond the good start, beyond the blessing, beyond the things. It was time for Abraham to trust God to be God. Abraham’s faith increased to a place that he now would settle for nothing short of God himself.

From that day on Abraham took God Himself as the object of his highest aspiration. Abraham was righteous before God because he dared to take Him at His word, and not just 'settle' for the good things along the way. God wants to covenant with us all. With each one of us. We all start out this walk of faith thinking about what God does. We want His peace and His joy and His gifts. And rightly so, because God wants us to have them all. But God wants us to take Him at His word and never settle short of seeing His best promise fulfilled in each one of us. He has a noble purpose for you and me.

Abraham was the friend of God and was declared righteous because of his faith. But God loves you as much as He loved Abraham. I'm not sure what "greatness" consists of, but . . . God wants you to become His friend, and He wants you to be like him, like His son, Jesus Christ. What we do is important. What we accomplish in life really matters. But nothing compares with knowing God, and with simply walking with him. That’s a faith that makes us great.