Eternal God of the Covenant made for all, from the oldest to the youngest, bless and hold this dear reader in all that they face today. In Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen. (The photo above is of Rev. Jet Throckmorton and myself baptizing Mr. Dylan Joseph Leal during our 10:45 worship service. Dylan took to me as I walked him around the congregation; he cried when I handed him back to Dad!)
We may soon forget the song that I learned as an adult for the sake of my girls, Father Abraham. It's a fun, lively, get your heart pumping soon, with so many motions that you have to be in shape to sing it. And as we got more intelligent we even added the right words, "Father Abraham had many sons (and daughters too!), many sons had Father Abraham..." No, it's too early for me to be singing and marching as I write!
The song's title and message comes because of his faith. As you come to know his story, it took a lot of faith for this man at that point in his life to hear God and to obey God. A lot of things were involved, several close contacts had to be severed and that first step leading away from family had to be taken. Not every one can do it. I was talking to a longtime dear friend from my first years in ministry, whose wife and he had to drive to College Station and leave their daughter behind. He shared on Facebook and in person at last evening's Big Kickoff for our Youth, that he cried as they drove away from the dorm where their precious, little, (eternally little) baby girl would now live for four years. I told him Nellie and I still held the record for dropping off our daughter in Troy, NY, and crying all the way to Virginia! To be fair to the story, it's not the parents who cry, it's the children. It is their faith that makes those long, difficult and painful drives home alone necessary. I was the one who applied to Lon Morris College and decided to attend there my first year of college. I cried as I saw my folks drive off leaving me deep in the heart of East Texas. I cried that night into my pillow, but I knew it was faith that took me there, and it was God who saw me through two very successful college years there and afterwards at Southwestern University, Iliff School of Theology and Perkins at SMU.
Paul asks us the question, what can we learn from Abraham? Was it the steps away from Mom and Dad that made him the "Father of the faith?" No, it was his faith. Nothing that Abraham did or could do, counted for anything, just his faith. In today's passage found in Romans 4:1-9 we find these words:
1 What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6 So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."
Notice verse 3, it was belief in God and that was what counted as righteousness. We can do all the good we want and it counts for nothing in terms of righteousness. We have to believe first, then because of our belief we will do that which counts as fruits or evidence of our faith.
You can "pad" your church work resume and all of those things both real and imagined will not count towards righteousness unless you first believe and love God. Once that happens then your resume, better, your life, will reflect righteousness because of faith.
PRAYER: Loving God it is easy to hide behind busy-ness and busy work both in the church and in church-related things, but it is in our heart where our belief matters more. Let me today invite You in, as my Father, Jesus as my Lord, and the Holy Spirit as Comforter to be made right in You. Then let me live this day in a way that gives others an invitation to do the same because You live in me. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
