Abram’s story again: What’s God’s first massive lesson for us about growing in faith? Genesis has lots to show us…
Abram, we learn in the new testament, was `looking forward to a city` God had built (Heb 11:10). Well, he never got it on earth. He was given huge promises about his long-term descendants – but they also were a bit intangible. But meanwhile Abram walked with God.
What do I learn here about faith? That it isn’t a way to get things (as in the prosperity gospel); faith is about learning to walk with God, living our lives as a long series of acts of faith. In Genesis 12 Abram goes round building altars in a pagan land, planting a flag of worship in place after place. That’s not a bad goal for life – to plant a flag of faith in each place God puts me, so that one day I can look back on my life as a series of public declarations of faith in God. Lord I want that!
And yet – at that very same time, Abram’s getting something horribly wrong. He’s got to learn to apply faith to possessions (so do I). And especially, that it’s not worth getting affluent at the cost of relationships…
Abram’s not a total saint. Look first at Genesis 12:11-16; he becomes really rich, but this is a sign, not (as we might think) of God’s blessing, but rather of Abram’s amazingly low valuing of relationships, ie, letting his beautiful wife be taken into Pharoah`s harem. He learns; by chapter 13 he’s made some progress (and she’s safe), but he still allows riches to be as important as relationships (v9): he lets possessions drive him and his nephew Lot apart. And this will be tragic for Lot; because sadly, when Abram puts him second to his own riches, it’s to wicked Sodom that Lot chooses to go; which will end up disastrously for Lot even on the level of possessions, ch19.
But when we keep reading to the end of ch14, Abram’s learned that faith means trusting God the true `Possessor`(v19) of heaven and earth; and so he’s free – possessions come a definite second. He grasps this as he spends time with someone who can focus his mind on this relevant aspect of God’s character, the mysterious Melchizedek. We need to do that! Also, Abram’s learned how evil Sodom is. So on the one hand he gives away (tithes) his possessions to God. But when Sodom’s king offers to make him rich, he shows his freedom from possessiveness and won’t touch that offer with a bargepole (vv20-23).
So: how is all this relevant to me right now? Simple: if I want to learn to live by faith, faith means not putting my trust in possessions, instead learning to see them as weights – necessary weights, but if they are what I trust most, care about most, they will mess up things that matter far more. It’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for an affluent man to enter heaven, said Jesus… In the spiritual life too, is there a weight limit of 20 kilos if we really want to fly? Is there anything surplus I myself should practise freedom by selling now and giving the proceeds away?
