Abram’s call is a great template for us to learn the way of faith from the man who would later become the Father of the Faith, Abraham.
Genesis 12:1 tells us:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
The Lord calls Abram and gives him three clear instructions. When we too walk in obedience to these 3 things, we are beginning to walk in the way of God-pleasing faith.
1. LEAVE
The Lord’s call to Abram is to get up and leave.
Leave your family, leave your country, leave your people and your Father’s household. Get up and leave. Why did God ask Abram to do this? I believe it was to establish in Abram a complete trust in God.
When we come to Jesus, He asks us to leave behind everything from our old way of life and follow Him. When we make Jesus No.1 in our life, He won’t tolerate competition for that place of affection and commitment in our hearts, so the only option is to choose.
Take Jesus, leave the rest!
When no-one else is around, when all our other comforts and familiarities are removed, when everything we’ve added to our lives has been removed – we find out who we are. God told Abram to leave his familiar, comfortable life because God didn’t want Abram to trust in the stuff he knew – he wanted Abram to trust in Him and Him alone.
In doing this – removing the old, familiar, comfortable things – not only does God establish trust in Abram’s life, He also establishes in Abram His true God-given identity.
Abram was the old identity, Abraham was the identity God created for him to walk in and live out.
If you want to find who God created you to be and discover your God-given identity in Christ, it’s going to take you heeding the call of Christ to LEAVE behind the stuff you’ve accumulated along the way. You are not your job, your friends, your education, your music, your sport, your abilities or your experiences. Leave them behind and embrace who God calls you to be.
PRAYER: Lord, I give myself back to you today. I recommit my way, my heart and affections to you. I choose to lay down my old identity and I choose to put on the identity you’ve given me as your Child. Thank you Lord, Amen.