Are We There Yet?
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. – Genesis 12:1-2a (NLT)
God’s call on the life of Abram/Abraham was essentially a call to disengage from the domiciles of dying paradigms and set out on a journey of faith to an unknown land. With no identifiable destination, no specific directions, and no estimated time of arrival, Abram was instructed to uproot himself from the confines his familiarity and embark upon a journey of promise.
In his quest toward the promised land, the Holy Spirit served as Abram’s GPS. Maps and landmarks couldn’t help him, because Abram’s destination was actually a revelation. His destination was God’s plan for human community, which God said, “I will show you.”
The places to which God calls us in life are not found in maps but in courage to follow Holy Spirit imagination. The places to which God leads us are not geographic regions but jurisdictions of love and justice. These are not destinations for self-aggrandizement; these are destinations through which all nations of the world will be blessed.
Abram followed the calling of God, but the fullness of God’s promise to Abram has not yet been found or realized. The modern land of Israel is ravaged by blood and bombs between Israelis and Palestinians. Meanwhile, global nations are being blistered, not blessed, by ongoing hostilities between rival descendants of Abram.
But let’s not forget the promises of God only become reality with a willingness to divest ourselves from the familiar patterns that lock us into competing provinces and follow God’s revelation to the promised land of love and justice for all.
Prayer
Lord, help us to live in the spiritual lineage to Abraham by our willingness to divest from the confines of familiarity and faithfully pursue your promise of salvation. Amen.
About the AuthorKenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Decatur, Georgia.