Consider Abraham…

Do you ever think of yourself being a lot like Abraham? There’s a fair chance that you don’t… after all, he was the greatest figure in the Old Testament, he had a covenant relationship with God, he was a great patriarch and what are you and I but just regular folks who struggle to find our way in a really weird world.

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Yes, I’d say that you and I are just like Abraham!

First, let’s review his career. He usually followed God’s commands: He left home, went to Canaan, usually behaved himself, was willing to sacrifice, entered a covenant with God… and of course he really screwed up several times! That is… unless you think allowing your wife to be taken into the harem of a pagan king, not once but twice, isn’t that big of a deal…not to mention fathering an illegitimate child with his wife’s servant… well, you get the idea.

Now let’s consider our own careers: We want to do as God commands, we who are in Christ have a covenant relationship with God through the New Covenant, we have our struggles, sometimes we don’t quite understand… and from time to time we really screw up!

It would seem that we have much in common with old Abraham!

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So how did God react to Abraham’s checkered career?

“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6 ff.)

We as Christians stand on God’s promises; do you believe God?

Notice that it didn’t say “believe in God… I said “believe God”. If we believe God and we put the highest priority on our covenant relationship with God, with our sins forgiven by God… then we can take everlasting joy in the fact that even though we have our struggles and mistakes, God has counted you and me righteous. Why I’d say that’s the best news of any day!