We Must Continue

Abram (later changed to Abraham) believed! God commanded Abram “leave your homeland and your father’s family and move to the land I will show you. God also promised, “I will bless you, make you great, and make your descendants into a great nation.” But there is a problem, humanly speaking, he was 75, his wife (Sarai) was 65, and they didn’t have any children. When they arrived in Canaan, God appeared to Abram and promised to give that whole region to his descendants. This was a strange promise since he still didn’t have any children.

One evening in his 80s, God repeated the promise with an added touch of emphasis and illustration: “Come outside, and look at the stars Abram. Count them if you can. As numerous as the stars in the sky, so shall your offspring be.”(Gen.15:5). Believe it or not, for the first time in Biblical record we find “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Gen.15:6).

Can you imagine that Abram believed God’s promise, which seems to me, has nothing to do with sin and salvation? Most theological ideas in relation to faith have something about salvation and sin. But this is faith about the coming of a promised baby and it credited to Abram as righteousness. This man Abram just ‘believed’ --that God would enable a man in his 80s to have a child as He promised. By his 100th birthday he became a father (Heb.11:11), 25 years of waiting. His wife Sarai who was already beyond menopause was enabled to have a baby. Happy Mother’s Day! Miracle Baby! There was no IVF in those days.

Lessons we learn: He first believed God when called out from Haran, he continued to believe God through his travels; he believed God when there were challenges and trials while tenting and camping in Canaan; and Abram still believed when Sarai happily declared she was pregnant.

You see, faith is not a one- time short event in your life when you first met God. (This happens to many people who go ‘forward’ at an invitation, but no real repentance of sins). A Christian’s life is a long-term commitment—until you meet God. First we believe, and we must continue to believe, because He has begun a good work in us and will bring it to completion (Phil.1:6). In spite of the pandemic, we must continue to believe.

There is no law that prohibits you to go to church. Do not make unreasonable excuses. If you are sick, or over fatigued that is understandable. We need to muster enough courage to survive and worship together—our confidence must be greater than our fears because we have a living dynamic God who is interested in the affairs of our lives; and we have a holy God who only cares for our welfare. Remember, our God is a God of all grace. All by grace and by grace alone.