January 4, 2018

Take the Step

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. – Hebrews 11:8

The New Year is calling to us. It is inviting us to new places, new adventures, new roads to travel. Are you heading out or hunkering down?

Abraham didn’t have to go when God called him. Abraham could have said no. God gives us the freedom to make choices, good or bad, as we live life on this earth. Abraham chose to follow God, even though he had no idea where he was going or what challenges he might face.

In a very real sense, Abraham took a chance on God. He believed God and the promises God had made to him. We look at those passages in the Bible and, still, we hesitate on the calling God has made on our own lives. We explain that times were different then. We rationalize that Abraham was a very special person and, thus, much more qualified to follow God.

Except that we’re really no different than Abraham. We’re special because God made us. We’re qualified because God provides all that we need to accomplish the task He sets before us. The difference between us and Abraham? Faith.

Somewhere along the line we’ve gotten the notion that following God should be easy. We’ve come to believe that stepping out in faith should come without hardship and doubts. We truly think that God’s calling doesn’t involve actual work or sacrifice on our part. Where in the world did we get that belief? Certainly not from the Bible.

Jesus promised that in this world we would have trouble. I know. It’s not what we want to hear. We want an easy life filled with blessings and little to no heartache. That’s not the life Jesus promised. That’s just not reality.

Faith means we trust God when we can’t see the way forward. Faith means we trust God when doubts set in and naysayers abound. Faith means we trust God in the storm, certain that it will pass and God’s blessings will come in abundance.

Faith also means understanding that our journey here is not about us. Sure, God wants us to enjoy life. But this life He’s granted to us really isn’t about us. It’s not. But we sure do have a hard time with that, don’t we?

Putting God first doesn’t fit with who society tells us we should be. Isn’t life supposed to be about us? Isn’t it supposed to be fun, filled with blessings, with little to no sacrifice on our part?

This isn’t our home. We know that but sometimes we have a difficult time wrapping our minds around it. We are restless, hungry for something more but we can’t seem to understand that we’ll never really be content so long as we live on this earth.

So, what has God called you to do in this New Year? It’s probably won’t be an easy journey. It might not be something you particularly want to do. It might require sacrifice and hardship and skills you never thought you had. Do it anyway.