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The apostasies.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. ‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle John had seen it all, he experienced walking with Jesus, watching him die, then seeing the empty tomb. Jesus had died and resurrected just as he said he would. After seeing him caught up to heaven and hearing his words, John had no doubts – EVERYTHING Jesus said would happen did happen! John must have remembered the words of Jesus, spoken in Matthew’s gospel, ”Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.” Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬ And also, “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭9‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

John believed what he was seeing was the end of days, but they were not. How many cycles of “end times signs” have come and gone? So many. And yet, the day that Jesus spoke of has yet to come. John’s warning is ultra-true, “many such antichrists have appeared.” People left the churches then, they have left the church today. How many cycles of “church hurt,” or forsaking the assembly has happened? Hundreds! Possibly every generation has experienced a falling away.

John sadly surmises, “they never really belonged with us” 😢. Is the Church doing something wrong? Probably. It is because even though we are the bride of Christ, we are still broken, struggling with sin. But also, is there still an epic battle for the souls of humanity? Absolutely. Each cycle, each battle claims victims along the way. Is this cycle THE “great falling away?” We won’t know, just as John did not know.

Though culture’s path widens, beckoning us with ease and promises of all our desires being fulfilled, Christ’s path is still narrow. To be a follower of Jesus still means, death, denial and enslavement in God’s Kingdom. We are bound to God’s grace, mercy and freedom! The terms have not changed. Do you still belong to Jesus and each other, his Church? Whether the wickedness of mankind or the physical removal of believers before the day of the Lord, our eyes should still fixed on our Savior – Jesus!

Prayer

​Dad,
Since the seventies, I’ve seen plenty of wishes and warnings of end times. I’ve seen some who can’t wait to leave this wicked world. Yet, I’ve also seen those who are brokenhearted for more to come to your saving grace. I’m still waiting for the wayward prodigals to come home. I see the ramped up wickedness coupled with lawlessness and throwing off restraints to do whatever people desire. I just know it all ends poorly, never fulfilling their deepest longings. When I pray, come quickly Lord Jesus, it is not the prayer to snatch me from the planet. It’s the prayer to pour out your Spirit on all flesh, penetrating darkness and deceit to experience true freedom! I wait for that day! I pray for that day. Amen.

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How to return home.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! Psalms‬ ‭111‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 111 is a tribute, written by Ezra the high priest and scribe, AFTER returning from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. To be clear, everyone knew why Israel was taken into slavery. The citizens had not only walked away from God, disregarding His laws and warnings, they had given themselves wholly to other gods, foreign gods – FAKE gods! God’s prophets, His spokespersons had been warning both the leaders of Israel and the prominent families to turn their hearts back to God. Israel consistently chose to do their own thing. Now, after 70 years, their city, their temple was decimated. Their kings, dead. Their brothers and sisters in the ten tribes that had split off from the whole, lost forever. The only ones to return were the remnants, the “root of Jesse,” as they were called.

Yet, in all this loss and penitence. In their humility, they found their heart for God. In mass they repented and made the journey back to rebuild what had been destroyed. Even though their hope was a flickering flame, a smoldering wick, just barely showing light, they remembered their God. Ezra writes, “He causes us to remember his wonderful works.” In complete misery of loss they remembered God and their own hearts turned, once again, towards Him!

How does one come back from devastation? How does one return to rebuild their entire life? How does one find hope in their future? Israel recognized their sin and remembered their God! Captivity wasn’t God’s fault, it was His love and discipline, going to extremes to keep His people from complete and utter destruction. The human heart, left to its own desires, will crash and burn and destroy everyone and everything around them. We are desperately wicked and strive against God to have our own way and do our own thing. God intervened, putting the nation in timeout until they came to their senses.

Psalm 111 captures the results of them turning their hearts towards God as they make their final assent back up to the city of Jerusalem. Ezra, returning and reflecting on the years of loss, looked up the road to Jerusalem. Then his eyes continued to look up, high into the heavens and thank God. What do you do to return? You look back and see your own decisions that led to devastation. You look up the road to see the restoration of your own future. And, you look even higher, to see God and thank Him for His righteousness, grace and mercy. This is the lesson of Psalm 111. Don’t quit. Don’t wallow. Don’t wait! Come home.

Prayer

​Dad,
What awaits us when we return home? Is it judgment, shame and humiliation? No! What awaits us is exactly what awaited Ezra and Your people – righteousness, grace and mercy. You want us to win. You want us to be well. You want us to live! Thank you oh Lord, for the means of mercy to see our failures and poor decisions. Thank you for the gift of seeing our past with the ability to turn to you and see our future. Thank you for real and genuine hope in the plans you have for us, if we would just turn and return. Amen.

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Offended and amazed.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

For anyone who has tried to rise above their circumstances or station in life, even Jesus faced familia familiarity! Jesus returns home, as an adult, as a well known Rabbi, with rumors of miracles he had performed. Of course, coming back into his hometown as a recognized Rabbi, he would be invited to speak at his synagogue.

Mark doesn’t give us the same detail of Jesus’ reading, nor his shocking words we find in Luke’s gospel (4:21). Mark just tells us that Jesus spoke and they were “amazed.” The consensus question; “where did he get all this wisdom and power to perform such miracles?” Remember when Jesus spoke? It was said that he did so with “authority.” But the amazement quickly faded into dismissive disbelief.

Mark writes, “they scoffed.” And, they were offended! The Greek word, “skandalizó,” they believed that Jesus scandalized them – sure, offended – but even more, that Jesus was beguiling them, setting a snare, a trap. They believed that their own homegrown understanding of Jesus was that he returned as some kind of city-slicker con-man! Where else could Jesus have gained all these abilities? With all of this local, mis-guided gossip they convinced themselves that Jesus was a fake! Jesus own community would not believe and Jesus was truly astonished at their unbelief, their lack of faith. Jesus uses an ancient proverb, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.”

This scene, this rejection of Jesus just because they were family and they were familiar with his beginnings, reinforces what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10, “all nations will hate you because you are my followers.” And, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!’” Jesus told them, and us today, people will hate us or turn against us because of their own unbelief! There comes a point when we have to realize that sometimes friends and family are not rejecting us, they are rejecting God – and it turns their hearts. I had a stepdad like this. My stepdad Ben, didn’t exactly oppose me, I was just a nobody, a teenager. Ben’s battle was with the God he despised.

When we feel rejection, it’s hard not to think it is all about something we’ve done or who we are. It is helpful to remember there is more going on than we know. If Jesus hometown folks treated him with disdain, why would it be any different for us.

Prayer

​Dad,
I am still baffled as to how your own son, doing Your will with grace and mercy, with miracles following, could possibly be mistaken for a religious scandal. It truly highlights the duplicity and complexity of our human hearts. This is just one of many aspects of our brokenness that you came to heal and restore. Thank you for persistently putting up with us! Amen.

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Feeling the presence of God.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land. You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land. Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭80‬:‭7‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This idea of God raising up a grapevine, nurturing it, watching over it and giving it a place to thrive and flourish is a popular theme in the Bible. I just wrote about Isaiah (chapter 5) giving an object lesson about the vine and the vineyard. The Psalmist writes about it while Israel is in Babylonian captivity. It goes along with another familiar phrase, “the root of Jesse,” which expresses the promise of a messianic king who would be born of David’s family. God is responsible to keep and protect this root of His vine!

Jesus even refers to Himself being the vine root and speaks of the fruit of that vine in John 15. And, Paul picks up the theme in Romans 15. Then finally, Jesus refers to himself as the root of Jesse in Revelation 22. This overarching picture of God following through with his promise even though Israel (and us as well) have consistently been unfaithful and failing to keep our promises in obedience to God’s Word. God is faithful to fulfill His promise and from that “root” He will raise up a whole new generation of children. These are the children of promise through the faithfulness, not of themselves, but of Christ alone.

In the verses following in this Psalm we hear the desperate plea for God not to give up on His people. “Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.” (vs 14-15). I get the feeling that people generally know when they are close to the Lord or far off from Him. I know for me, when I have wandered or just been careless with my love and attentiveness to His presence, I definitely knew it. I felt similar to the Psalmist. I wanted to be close again and hear God’s voice, feel the Holy Spirit working in my life. I would never want to get used to being far from Him. I would never want to be so far from God that I no longer felt His face shining down on me. Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. Those who remain in him, and he in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Prayer

Dad,
I clearly see that you have done everything to keep us (keep me) close to you. You faithfully and consistently come after us, wooing us, forgiving us and loving us. My part is to stay close to you, connected to you. The most difficult part is not even my sin, which separates me from your presence. It’s the shame and embarrassment of continuing to return, constantly coming back in confession and repentance. It’s trusting that you forgive me and receive me once again. It’s the not giving up, not drifting too far – that’s the hard part. Your word promises that you are faithful and JUST to forgive me and clean me when I come to you. I never want to be without your presence. I never want heaven to be silent because of my unfaithfulness to you! Amen.

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Israel is still relevant to God’s story.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For in that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains. Foreigners will no longer be their masters. For my people will serve the Lord their God and their king descended from David— the king I will raise up for them. “So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” says the Lord. “For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them. For I am with you and will save you,” says the Lord. “I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished. ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭30‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I say it ALL THE TIME – God’s stories are very long!

Whether I read an ancient text like this one in Jeremiah, written almost 3000 years ago, or I read the promises made to Abraham close to 5000 years ago – it does not matter. God stories are long stories. Yet time has no bearing on His promises, they are always fulfilled.

When God, apocalyptically tells Jeremiah the future, it can have immediate results as well as future applications at the same time. God did bring them back then and God will bring them back again! Jeremiah was writing to a rebellious, yet broken nation. Today, Jeremiah still speaks to a stubborn, yet broken nation.

What is it about Israel that makes it so controversial, so complicated? Is it truly because God declare the country to be His? And Jerusalem to be the object lesson of God’s faithfulness? Israel is such a small country, with 8,630 sq. miles and a population of about 9 million people. On the topic of ownership, the Israeli state was declared in 1948. Not only did God gift Abraham the land, but also bought the portions of the land legally and legitimately. There are several ancient transactions recorded in Genesis 13:15-17, and David’s purchase of the temple mount in 2 Samuel 24:18-25. Plus, the entire area known now as Israel was barren and almost worthless when Israel took it over in 1948, It is no secret that the Jewish people turned the dessert into a paradise! The Jewish people even resurrected a dead language that hadn’t been spoken for 2,000 years – Hebrew!

Israel’s GDP was $522.03B in 2022. They are the top in the field of agriculture, health, science, medical advancement, military weaponry and technology. Many of the best and brightest minds in the world are Israelites! The very long story has still yet to be fulfilled.

The Jewish people will one day recognize Jesus as their messiah! And God promises, through passages just like this one, that He will bring all His people back their land. They have been scattered all over the world, but they will return. They have been reviled, tortured and killed, but God still has His eye on His people and the promises made to ancient desert fathers, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be fulfilled in modern times. Israel is still in the news because Israel is still waiting for the completion of all things, the end of days!

Prayer

Dad,
It is so heartbreaking to see the violence of war perpetrated on the folks in Israel and the Palestinian people. It is gut wrenching to watch the innocent be caught up in the mayhem and destruction of life, homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. We are a violent people at heart, especially when we wander from you and seek our own way. The struggle and deep seated hatred and anger is too complex for me to even understand. But, I know in all of this terror, you are at work to fulfill your promises, even extending life and freedom to those who behave as enemies towards you, if they would turn their heart towards you.

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Meals with Jesus.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

”Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Mark’s gospel records these really punchy moments when Jesus just seems to casually invite people to follow him and then either gets invited or invites himself to a home cooked meal. When Levi (Matthew) throws a dinner party, who gets the invite? Yeah, a bunch of HIS friends, other tax collectors! But Mark adds some spicy flavor to the scene when he adds that Matthew also invited, “and (hamartólos) sinners.” Hmmm, what sinners do you suppose paired with wealthy, Jewish traitors? Yes! Probably those filthy lucre, money-grabbing, financial tycoons.

The religious leaders just could not understand why any self-respecting Rabbi would party with sinners. The New Living Translation takes some extreme liberties in translating the word “sinner” into “scum” when the asked, “why does he eat with sinners?” Of course, Jesus often attended religious folks dinner parties as well, so it is true, He ALWAYS ate with sinners.

Jesus gives a life-lesson still used today, “healthy people don’t need a doctor,” (ischuó), strong, powerful, healthy people have no “needs” at all! Ah, but (kakos) badly (physically or morally) evil, miserably sick people do. Pseudo “healthy” folks can only live in denial for so long.

Jesus is calling and looking for the (hamartólos) sinful person not the (dikaios) the innocent or righteous in their own eyes. Jesus eats with whom He pleases, both the sinner and the righteous. But who needs God the most? Don’t both equally need Him? Ah, but only one is willing to admit their illness.

Prayer

Dad,
These stories about Jesus eating and meeting with all kinds of people often challenge me. They not only challenge how I view myself, as a sick-sinner or a self-sufficient righteous type. These stories also challenge my thinking when it comes to who I eat with or hang out with. Meals with people are usually pretty intimate, especially in our homes. There’s a lot of trust when inviting people over to share in a meal. Do I only invite those over who look like me and believe like me? Normally, the answer is yes. But, what if I invite myself over to other’s houses as well – bringing food with me of course? What a great idea! Thank you for finding me and coming to me even while I was and still are a sinner! Thank you that my righteousness, my innocence doesn’t come from within me, but from you! Amen.

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The simplicity of rhythm together.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭46‬-‭47‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Yes, the beginning of the Church started with a big event! The powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Peter finding his voice and the converging of his purpose brought thousands to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior. Then the Church got to work doing what? Running outreach events and evangelistic campaigns? No, the Church got down to creating simple rhythms of gathering together and doing life together. Of course there will always be opportunities for big events where hundreds, maybe thousands come to follow Jesus. But the Church’s most powerful witness is found in the members being like Jesus and living in unity.

In the very next chapter, Luke shows us that Peter and the other Apostles began doing the same miraculous works that Jesus did. And, the Church continued to meet in simplicity.

The Church today finds itself in a disruptive, disunited state. Trust in all sectors of society has plummeted and the Church is no different. People have lost confidence in leaders because of too many lies, too many broken promises and too much social news-spin to make reality and themselves look to good to be true. And with that the Church has lost its foundational simplicity of gathering to worship, meeting in homes for communion and meals and being in the Word of God together.

God is still at work to bring about the same endgame that Peter spoke of verses 17-21. Today, we too must be at work to return to what is healthy for us as followers of Jesus. To be resilient in our faith, restorative in our reconciliation with one another and un-offendable to focus on Jesus and not our faults.

Prayer

Dad,
Wow! What a day that must have been. Amidst all the social and political chaos of those days, your Word went out in power and transformed people’s lives as you launched the Church. We have similar local and global problems today. And we need you to pour out your Spirit on all people once again. But we also need help, as your Church, to be who we were destined to be; your bride without spot or wrinkle. Help us come home, returning to the original plan of simple gatherings and doing life together.

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The view on the road back home.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” Psalms‬ ‭126‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What’s it like coming back home or reconciling with family and friends after you’ve left, drifted or stormed off in anger. It’s tough. I have no understanding of Israel’s forced captivity in a foreign country as a disciplinary action from God. They were marched out of their land and into Babylon where they were immigrants for 70 years – that’s a long time! And while they were gone, their beloved homes, city and temple were all ransacked and destroyed.

They only small comparison I have is being given up for adoption at four years old. My world, my home, my toys, my neighborhood friends all gone. I was placed with a new family, in an unfamiliar apartment and never did returned home. All that was left for me was fragments of memories, like an assortment of puzzle pieces that do not fit together to make a picture.

For Israel, the journey back was humbling and difficult. Everything they remembered had to be rebuilt – their homes, their city wall and their temple. Ezra, the priest, convinced them to rebuild God’s house before doing anything else! And, it made sense because it was the neglect of God’s house and His commandments that put them in the generational time-out to begin with.

When things go wrong, it’s hard to figure out this concept still today. Am I being disciplined by God? Is this just life in a broken world? Or, am I being targeted and harassed by the devil? Oh, you didn’t know that God still disciplines either putting us into timeout or allowing it to happen? Sorry to break it to you. God loves us enough to come after us, even if it means putting us into situations that require us to look up and reevaluate our decisions!

This Psalm captures the hope, the joy of not just returning, but the giddiness of rebuilding. Rebuilding a life, a home, a church or a city is certainly difficult, but it beats captivity! It’s a wake up call to remember what freedom is really all about – freedom to do right, not do whatever we want. The Psalmist, Ezra, declares “YES! The Lord as done amazing things for us! What joy!” It’s honest and real after being gone for so long.

Prayer

Dad,
Oh my heart just breaks for those who knew you, loved you and then for so many different reasons, decided to walk out. Whether is was some awful experience in life or the church or just wandering off, looking for something else. It’s still painful for me to watch. So many friends, so many family members who walked away from you. I don’t plan on leaving your presence, even when I’ve been exiled in a holy timeout for my own good. Where would I go? You are the author of life. You have given me so much. I cannot deny nor turn away from that. However, I ask that I do not become the “elder brother” in the prodigal story, comparing my life to others and thinking I need a big party celebrating the fact that I never left. No, help me to always be the father in that story. The one who daily goes out waiting, watching for those who’ve decided to come home!

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Coming home.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Oh, praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, you who serve at night in the house of the Lord. Lift your hands toward the sanctuary, and praise the Lord. May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Jerusalem.” Psalms‬ ‭134‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Seventy years of serving under a foreign king, in a foreign land, as forced refugees. If anyone understands being homeless, displaced and living as strangers, it’s Israel. And you and I both know it was intentional. The golden deal made with God and his people were well known. The blessings were clear, the consequences were clear. Yet, that did not stop millions of people from doing what they wanted to do. It didn’t stop an entire nation from jealously pursuing the cultures of its neighbors – it’s enemy neighbors. They had a king, we want one. They had flashy… fill in the blanks – clothes, riches, palacious palaces. Israel wanted all that and more. They wanted clout, power and significance that reflected their appetites. And, they had that under Solomon. But it wasn’t enough. The one thing that finally caused them to break their contract with God was the one thing that still breaks God’s heart. They wanted another lover, another God.

None of their deep generational lessons would stick. None of ours will either. God let them chase after another, and another and another. Then out of love, God put them in several generational time-outs. By the way, living, serving and existing under the Babylonian kings wasn’t all bad. God had placed some undercover high-level operatives in the upper echelons of leadership. Yet, it wasn’t home and a remnant still ached to return to their first love, their God.

You can wander, you can search, you can party with friends and pursue the life you think will fulfill you, but it’s all a mirage with no lasting substance. Ezra writes this Psalm on the way home! Back to their homeland, way of life and their now broken down temple where God no longer visited. Yet, there was hope that this time the people were serious and there would be forgiveness, reconciliation and most importantly a restoration of the contract. Israel would, once again, be God’s favorite. This theme runs the length of our human story. In some way or another we are always longing to come home – and stay home. I’m not talking about a location, I’m talking about a way of life. I don’t know what has kidnapped or enticed you away from home, from a life filled with God. But I do know that at anytime, you are welcome to come home.

Prayer

Dad,
I was born a refugee, in terms of family and any sense of home. I did not know of, nor have a sense of belonging or of home – not with You. I felt lost and I wandered because I didn’t know any better. Even in those dark and blurry days, I had a tiny little sense that someone, something was watching over me. Then I found out it was you. And when you called me to yourself and offered me a forever home, I gladly said YES. I still feel the tug of other loves and other lovers, but none of them could possibly fulfill that place in my life of being home with you. Thank you for giving me that permanence! I pray that others who search will find, others who ache will turn and come home.

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The bedouin called from obscurity.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Abram’s dad and grandad had done really well traveling the plains of eastern Turkey. There’s a comment in Genesis that sounds like Abram’s father was planning to make the journey to Canaan, but stopped and made a life in Haran.

Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. “One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.” Genesis‬ ‭11‬:‭31‬-‭32‬.

It was in Haran that God came to Abram and told him to leave. This was THE journey of faith that started the biggest conversation about faith and obedience ever. Abram saying YES to God wasn’t the first, because Noah had a very similar situation. But, this “yes,” this move, would later be referred to as Abraham being “credited,” credited to him as righteousness! Abraham’s faith and covenant (contract) in and with God was pre Law, pre ten commandments! This credit of righteousness would be a difficult, contrarian conversation with God’s own people, Israel, for many generations to come. And us Gentiles don’t find out the significance of this moment between God and Abram until the New Testament and the Messiah (Christ) comes to perfect and surpass that faith making faith the hinge-moment of salvation even above the law itself.

This one decision, buried in history, obscured by the past and eclipsed by Moses and the law is essential for us to understand the phrase the “righteous will live by faith!” All of our human attempts at perfecting ourselves or working off our debt to God miss the point. Just like Abram, BELIEVING and OBEYING God is what is required. The Apostle Paul said it perfectly, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” We are all kind of wandering bedouins, and believing God to leave that life means we can all find a permanent home with him.

Prayer

Dad,
I didn’t have to leave my country, but in many ways, I had to believe and leave a chaotic, spotted past to find my forever home with you. As someone who was adopted out of a difficult family situation to something far worse, I get the promise of permanency. I get the idea of stopping, putting down roots, developing deep and rich relationships that last a lifetime here and with anticipation of continuing those relationships into eternity. I know some move around, from state to state, city to city, and find it exciting, even adventurous. For me, I like the sense of stability. And, I am thankful that you have blessed Robin and myself to generally live that kind of life. Thank you for home, faith and permanence in You.