He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
__________________________________________________________
Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Thank you for the picture today of the end goal of our journey. And some of the sign posts along the way toward this “character” that we can see was developed in Abraham and others, even some contemporary folks that you’ve brought into our lives. Thanks for pointing out that getting to that Abraham type of faith is a process, a journey, and includes ups and downs, some mountaintops and some dark jungle places where we can’t see. Those are the times when character which is built on our relationship with you will sustain us … until we can once again see clearly. Also it seems that this character is built slowly over time and can best be seen by looking back. It seems that getting analytical in the moment leads us into legalism and performance based systems which lead to guilt management. And we’ve learned that we can never win that game.
So, rather than focus on our character, We can focus on You, and our connection with you and let the character be built out of our living in relationship with you. “Our part” seems merely to show up and connect with you and live out of that. The only thing to strive for is to maintain the relationship. All other striving to be better opens the door to self promotion and the belief that we can fix ourselves.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. Rom 7:18
Prayer: Help me today to resist the urge to make myself holy, and rather, come to you, surrendered, curious, expectant, and ready to be obedient …. and let you make me holy.
You lead, I follow. I love you.
Click Image for John White's Original Vision For CO2's
