Be An Abraham
If starting things and not finishing them was an Olympic sport, I am confident I would be proudly boasting over a neck full of glimmering gold medals. Perhaps like me you have a real gift for starting things and not finishing them? There are loads of reasons things get left unfinished; fear, focus, frustration to name a few.
In Genesis 11 there is a story about a guy who is a lot like me me his name is Terah. “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.” ~ Genesis 11:31-32
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” ~ Genesis 12:1-5
Terah and Abraham, 2 leaders, 2 very different outcomes. One arrived, one died.
In a world full of Terah’s I want to learn the art of being an Abraham. We are called to be leaders who know the difference between sitting down to rest and settling down to stop. Terah’s name literally means loiter (Not a great name!) Terah started well, he took his son grandson, who represents legacy future blessing and the promise of God and SET OUT. HE SET OUT but never arrived BECAUSE he LOITERED in the NOW.
I don’t know why Terah set out but then settled, but I do know why I would.
• It had cost me enough last time.
• It’s comfortable here.
• The view from here is great!
• The enemies and challenges in Cannan scare me.
• I just can’t be bothered.
Here’s what I love about Abraham; he was enough of a leader to know the future was dependant on him, but enough of a servant to risk it being someone else’s headline. In Chapter 12 it says Abraham took his nephew and set out. Lot wasn’t his son, wasn’t his legacy, wasn’t his dream, his ministry, church, fame and yet he took someone elses legacy and future and he SET OUT.
Abraham knew promise and blessing wasn’t a destination. He understood blessing was a pipeline designed to bless others, to bless future generations. The beauty of this story is he stepped out for generations God blessed him with generations!
Here is 3 ways you can tell if you are starting out to finish.
Hebrews 11 among other things says this about Abraham. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” ~ Hebrews 11:8-12
1. Obedience over obvious “he obeyed at went, even though he didn’t know where he was going.”
Obedience needs ears more than eyes… What has God said?
2. Make camp in the strange places “he made his home in the promise land like a stranger in a foreign country.”
Comfort and convince isn’t always compatible with promise and purpose. Is my current comfort compromising legacy? The more we make our home in his promises the more we will feel at home in his promises.
3. Get on plan with God. Build his thing. “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.”
He looked forward knowing his tent was temporary, but God’s promise was eternal, built for a future and a kingdom which wasn’t about him. Is what I am building affecting kingdom legacy in the view of eternity?
Ps. Lisa Daniels