God’s Promises

The LORD said to Abram…Genesis 12:1

In the next three lines God makes several promises to Abram. I will show you…I will make you a great nation…I will bless you…I will bless those who bless you…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Think about that. To one man, God promises to bless every person on earth! Consider this. You are a benefactor of that promise through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God began with a simple request: get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house. Simple, not easy. Jesus asks us to believe. Simple, not easy. God’s promises seem to rest on a simple request. Simple but with great rewards. God asks that we leave our past and receive His future. That is the nature of repentance. When we do, God shows us a better way. You have done what Abram did. You left. Leaving is never easy. Going somewhere new is better. God never said following Him would be easier; just better.

For Abram it was a new name: Abraham; a new address; a new family. A family which included Isaac who would father Jacob who would father Judah who would father Jesus (eventually). For us it is a new name, Christian; a new family, the church; a new destiny, heaven (eventually).  

For Abraham the promise included bringing forth Christ, the promised Savior. For us, the promise includes being an ambassador of Christ. Like Abraham, we get to have a grand part in being a blessing to the world by being a disciple of The Blessing to the world: Jesus our Lord. This is grace.