The faith of Abraham

All these died in faith without having received the promises,

But from a distance they saw and greeted them. Hebrews 11:13

 

Read Romans 4:16—25

Faith. Abraham’s faith. Do I have Abraham’s faith? That would be a life that stakes itself on God’s promise. Do I live by that? Abraham never saw all that was promised. He was promised a land, but did not possess it. So he staked his present on God’s future, on a promise whose outcome he did not see. Is that my faith? Am I living for what God will do that I will not see in my lifetime? Am I investing in that? Abraham did see God raise the dead in his lifetime. That is, if you count the life that came out of Sarah’s barrenness.[1] Or, again, the life of his son Isaac given back by the Lord’s intervention.[2] That, surely, has to be my faith. I believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. If I don’t, what faith is worthwhile bothering with at all? If I do, then I can happily live for what I am not going to realise in this life.

Prayer
Father, I think of these things tonight, and I pray to you for a faith like Abraham’s. I can see that faith is a happy thing. It is an adventure. Faith, the way you led Abraham, frees me from the control of what has to be. I am released. I am released into what can be. I am freed for what you are bringing about. Oh, let me live for that, in every area of my life! Let my life be formed by your promised future. Surely this world is waiting for people who will live lives like that! By your grace let me be one of them!

 

 

[1] Genesis 18:1—15

[2] Genesis 14:1—14