| What I Can Learn From . . . , Part 4: Abraham |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, October 03 2005 00:00 |
|
Much! Of course, Abraham is the father of the faithful. He is Paul’s example of justification by faith alone, for Genesis 15:6 says “Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Paul explains in Romans 4 and in Galatians 3 that when we believe (obviously, believe the gospel: that Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins), our faith is credited to us as righteousness. It is not that we exchange faith for righteousness, but that at the moment we believe, we are pardoned of sin and clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Abraham is also the example of a living, obedient faith, as James and the writer of Hebrews discuss, Abraham obeyed God when He called him to leave Ur and journey to a land he had not seen. Abraham obeyed God when He told him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. We understand from Abraham that true faith impels obedience. We may also learn from Abraham that even a person of true, living, obedient faith struggles with sin. We are never beyond this ongoing battle with the flesh as long as we are in the flesh. The world, the flesh, and the devil assault us continually, and often we succumb. Abraham lied twice about Sarah being his wife and exhibited cowardice and lack of consideration for his wife in so doing. He put Sarah in a very dangerous predicament. Even our heroes of faith stumble and fall, but if we combine the lesson of justification with the lack of perfect personal righteousness, we understand that our salvation is secure even when we stumble and fall, because it is not based on our performance, but upon the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! |
Join our Devo Mailing List
We'd be honored to send you our devotionals via email. To be included on our list please visit our Contact page and write us a request.