MAKING RADICAL CHANGES: In following the Most High, you may be required to make some life-changes decisions. How many would be willing to leave their native land, family, and friends, not knowing where they are going? But that is exactly what God required of Abraham.
In the Bible, God has provides us with practical guidance on how to live above the stresses of life, and we are given instructions on how to manage the resources He has given us.
In this series,
From a biblical perspective, we are looking at how to manage effectively the resources God has given us while prioritizing What Really Matters.
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Let’s Pray
God Most High, we understand that sometimes you may ask us to make radical changes and even do things that would make others think that we have lost our minds. But in faith, without question, help us to move forward. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
God has asked those who desire heavenly riches to make some radical changes. In the previous lesson, God called Noah to build an ark (a boat) to escape a flood when it had never rained.
Another example of an individual interested in the kingdom of God was Abram or Abraham.
God commanded Abraham to leave his homeland and his family. With no knowledge of where he was going, God told Abraham to go to a land that He would show him.
I am sure this decision wasn’t easy to make. No doubt Abraham gave up some pleasures and comforts to follow God.
In Genesis 12:1–3, we see that not only was Abraham to be blessed by receiving the promise and accepting the call to make this radical change, so would all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 12:1-3
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
So in Abraham obeying God by making the radical change and accepting the promise, God use Abraham to bless all nations of the earth. (Split)
Hebrews 11:8 lets us know that Abraham made a life-changing decision to obey God and leave his home and his family. This move was a radical change. It was so radical that he became known as the father of the faithful.
Hebrews 11:8
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8, NKJV).
“Abraham’s unquestioning obedience is one of the most striking evidences of faith to be found in all the Bible.” —Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 126.
Most of us wouldn’t want to leave our homes, families, and friends. But Abraham did so. Although happy to be with his family. He was even happier to be where God wanted him to be.
It might seem strange, but during their lifetimes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never received the land God promised them. Did God break his promise? No!
Their waiting, like Noah, involves delayed gratification. It involved putting off their desire to get immediate results.
They resisted the selfish impulse to take an immediate reward in hopes of obtaining a more-valued reward in the future.
These men trusted God, they had faith and believe that they would get their future reward in the heavenly kingdom.
Hebrews 11:8–13 lets us know that they looked forward to their heavenly home in which the builder and maker is God.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:8–13)
Abraham was a prince and the people living around him recognized him as such. Abraham was brave, he was giving, and he was caring. And most of all, he was a servant of the Most High God. His witness for God was an example to all other people around him.
In the heavenly kingdom, when Christ returns to this earth, God will give Abraham and all those who, like him, were faithful to God (the sons and daughters of Abraham) an everlasting reward.
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (Galatians 3:6, 7, NKJV).
The promise of Abraham is to us. That promise is found in Galatians 3:29 (Split)
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29, NKJV).
By the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, we are heirs to Abraham. Therefore, It is only by faith in Jesus that that we become heirs according to the promise made to Abraham. We are the seeds of Abraham. We are his sons and daughters.
Both Abraham and Noah made life-changing decisions. Both men were willing to make these life-changing decisions because they loved the Most High and chose to obey Him. They realized and understood what Paul meant when he expressed in 2 Corinthians 4:18 that the things in this life are temporary. But the things in God’s heavenly kingdom are eternal.
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
When God calls us to make life-changing decisions, he gives us the freedom to choose. Noah and Abraham made the decision to obey God and deny selfish immediate gratification.
There are those who choose to serve self, rather than make life-changing decisions that require delayed gratification. What happens when we make the decision to serve self rather than God? Find out in Day 3: Lot’s Bad Decision
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