Image from silhouettedesigns.com
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Dear Friend, greetings and blessings to you and yours! What is your real name? How do people know you? Is the name fitting? Does your name actually do justice to who and Whose you are? Faith can be a name changer as we will discover in today's text from the Book of Beginnings. Do you hope to live to be 99, or is that too long a time to be alive? Most of us would say, yes, I'd like to live that long if.... and we place conditions. Mine would be that I was still alert mentally, not a burden to anyone, and could fend for myself. I must admit 99 would not be the age I would want to start a family unless I was a member of The Rolling Stones! And I can't confess to wanting my name changed at that age either, unless Bill Gates finally decides to adopt me! Yet, here we have Abram. By all accounts he was a man of faith and open to having a trusting relationship with God; so much so that God appeared to him and did several things: He asked Abram to walk before God. That means may all your actions reflect your faith in me and that I am watching you. God also asked Abram to be blameless; in other words, live in such a way that people can find no fault in you nor blame you for anything negative. And God said, if you can do this, I will establish a covenant with you. This is Abram's part of the sacred contract. God's part was that Abram would be the father of a multitude of nations, and his name was changed from Abram to Abraham. Abram means "high father;" and Abraham means "father of nations." Sarai means "my princess," and Sarah means "Mother of nations." Not a bad deal for someone ninety-nine years old. And God promised that Abraham would be "exceedingly fruitful" and nations and kings would come from him. Wow. And he promised the same to Abraham's wife now named Sarah. When you and I came to faith our lives changed. Nothing physical may have come of our spiritual change within, but I would pray that our manner of interacting with others would change. I'll never forget after being ordained a Deacon in the UMC, the first step back then towards full ordination, I came home to Houston, sat on the couch and my youngest sister sat across from me and stared at me for a long time. I finally asked, "What are you looking at?" She replied, "Well, you're ordained now and I wanted to see what was different about you." I got up and acted as if I was going to hit her and she laughed as I said, "I'm still your big brother and I can hit you if I want!" Inside my journey was still in its infancy stage as a person called to full-time service of our Lord. And I wanted that inward grace to become part of who I now was. I was set apart to serve God and I wanted that "set-apartness" to reflect my outer being. Most Christians after conversion should strive to have their name changed to what they do in love for others. "Helper." "Bless-er." "Servant." "Disciple." "Leader." All of these could be our names if we let our lives reflect our faith. The foundation is the trust that we have in God grow each day. We can no longer lives by the name of "Contented," or "Relaxed." If anything, our name should be "Contagious Faith," "Urgent Disciple Maker," or something along the lines of faithfulness and fruitfulness. At any age. The other day in our class, someone mentioned that though she was older inside she still felt she was in her 20s. I replied I still felt, and sometimes act, like I'm 14. Our attitude towards life should reflect the altitude God gives us to soar above our situation. Abraham had that kind of attitude and so can we! PRAYER: LOVING FATHER, bless this dear reader to rise above limits others may have, of themselves, put on their lives. Help us to trust and live in a way that our "name" changes as people see the work we are doing for you. May our name change from "Lazy" to "Loving" with Your help; this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen. Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Bless someone by living under your "new name!" Eradio Valverde PRAYER REQUESTS AND UPDATES: Please be in prayer for Joe Britt Hindman, undergoing a procedure this morning at the Seguin hospital We pray this bring the comfort and healing our brother needs from this blocked kidney stone. We have an update that Joseph Latham has improved significantly and doctors hope he's about to turn the corner towards complete healing. May it be so! Prayers for my bride, Nellie Valverde. She is still not feeling well and needs prayers for healing and strength. Thank you all again for your faithfulness in praying for all. My prayer is that God bless you and your situation today.
