When I read the anecdote of Abraham’s life, he had a choice to make. His decision was between the security of what he already had and the uncertainty of trusting God’s direction for his life. All he had to go on was God’s promise to guide and bless him. Abraham hardly could have expected to visualize how much of the future was resting on his decision whether to obey or stay, but his obedience affected the history of the world. His decision to follow God set into motion the development of the nation that God would eventually use as his own when he visited earth himself. When Jesus Christ came to earth, God’s promise was fulfilled; through Abraham the entire world was blessed!
Since I have begun to prepare for The World Race, God has shown me through Abraham’s faith that He desires our dependence, trust, and faith in him – not faith in our ability to please him. This struck the inner core of my spirit because as I observed Abraham’s life he doubted God many times, but the Lord constantly reminded him of the promises. I began to ponder and asked myself in what ways am I being reminded of God’s promises?
“Lose your life and go save so many others.”
When I heard these words everything of this world became insignificant when compared to Jesus. It was as if He said “Tell me, what is it you want to do with your one wild and precious life?” A dream that I had a while back about serving children in a village, reminded me that my life is worth losing, so that Jesus can save so many others. One glance into their eyes and I remembered that I did not get to choose where I was born and neither did they. “Most of my life has been comfortable, but you have been constantly disrupting mine to show me that people are living in poverty. If it was me who was born into poverty, I would only hope that you would use your people to save me too.”
This is how God works. He is using me to save his lost people, and He is using those precious children, families, orphans, and widows to save me right back.
He is reminding me that when I leave this earth I will take nothing with me but what I gave away. Love. Hope. Passion. Sacrifice. Service. Nothing in my life is as precious as trusting God with everything I have for His Kingdom’s cause. Have you ever imagined that your one brave and small step toward God was His irrefutable voice reminding you that if any of us in this world have any amount of status, money, or power; it is for the sole purpose for Him to save many lives by using us?
A couple of weeks ago it dawned on me that I was becoming spiritually blinded to God’s promises of providing for me in every aspect in this journey. I was shifting my focus on the battlefield and the spiritual warfare coming against me. I would doubt the calling to the race, question myself if it was even worth adventuring, and my past began to taunt me.
However, The Lord reminded me of the word, behold, which in Greek means to “look up!”Once I realized the power behind those words it gripped my spirit. Every fear and worry became irrelevant to how powerful the God that I serve is.
It’s not about me.
That is what has been darting through my head a lot lately when people ask me questions about how I deal with my life situations. Why don’t I get more frustrated? Why I don’t complain more? Why am I not angry about my troubles?
We all want life to be fair.
We want goodness to prevail, and hard work to mean that life will be easier. The green grass on the other side of the fence belongs to the people who don’t appreciate it? We’d like that to be transplanted into the lawn of the person who spends all day feeding and watering the sparse looking grass in hopes of a fruitful harvest.
That is just me thinking but it’s not about me. It’s about what He can do with my life.
“And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him righteous because of his faith.” Genesis 15:6
