For years Abraham waited for this promised son – Isaac. In the waiting time he made some mistakes by taking matters in his own hands and had his share of inner and family turmoil. He certainly enjoyed the first years of Isaac’s existence until one day “God said, ‘Take your son , your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about,’” (Genesis 22:2). Read the whole story at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2022:1-19&version=NIV1984.
Can you put yourself in Abraham’s shoes? What was the point, Abraham might have thought, why have I waited all these years just to lose him again? Is that how we would have thought? But Abraham could have thought differently as well, knowing the Lord as he did. He could have figured that the Lord probably tested him. Nevertheless he didn’t know whether the Lord would save the day or not. All he knew was that he had to do what the Lord told him and he obeyed regardless.
Once again this was one of the actions of faith Abraham had to follow though, so God could have His mandate to fulfil His greater plan. As discussed in an earlier message; Abraham’s willingness within the covenant to sacrifice his only son, gave God the covenant right to sacrifice His son, Jesus Christ.
Under the New Covenant Jesus’ sacrifice as the Lamb of God ended our need to sacrifice animals as redemption from sin, but created the opportunity to sacrifice ourselves.
· “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory,” (Colossians 3:2-4).
· “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him,” (Romans 6:5-8).
Being a Christian is not simply making a decision to believe Jesus. It is a death sentence of the sinful nature, of our own desires, plans and ideas. In order for God to accomplish what He wanted to do through Abraham regarding His greater plan concerning Israel, Abraham’s physical descendants, and the church, Abraham’s spiritual descendants, Abraham had to die to his own ideas and vision. He had to unconditionally believe and trust that the Lord knew what He was doing, even though it often brought discomfort to Abraham and sometimes messed up his life, because his flesh struggled against his spirit and faith.
If we are serious to be involved with God’s greater plan, we need to step back and let God do His thing. We need to put our plans for our life, our materialistic comfort, our dreams, yes everything that is important to us, but is not of God, on the altar. Jesus told the rich young man that if he wanted to be perfect, he needed to get rid of everything that is important to him and then follow Jesus, i.e. consider His plans priority (Matthew 19:16-22).
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will,” (Romans 12:1-2).
The only way we would be able to see- and be in God’s perfect will, i.e. His greater plan for His Kingdom, is to sell out and sacrifice ourselves by renewing our mind to think as God thinks.
Lord, I’d like to sacrifice myself. Show me your way.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.
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