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“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son… He reasoned that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Hebrews 11:17-19).
The scene was set, somewhere in the region of Moriah, Abraham led his beloved son Isaac to the mountain top.
There he built an Altar and laid his son across it, Abraham then placed the wood onto his son’s chest. In one hand, he held the fire that was to be used in the sacrifice and with the other hand Abraham reached for the knife he would use to slay his son!
If that had been your child lying there, would you deliver the blow?
You see God had promised Abraham several times that his offspring’s would blossom into a great nation as abundant as the stars in heaven. But how could this be if Isaac was to be sacrificed?
Abraham was being put through an intensive test; today we are not required to sacrifice a loved one in order to show our faith to God.
However, we experience hardships of our own. At first, these trials may seem impossible or unrealistic to overcome, but if we show great faith to obey God’s commands the way Abraham did, there is no doubt that we too can receive the promises the Lord has to offer.
Furthermore, we should not compare ourselves to those who are in a worser position than us, if we do we may begin to think that our life is going well, even if it’s not. For example, if someone can barely live on their monthly wages, it is unwise for them to compare themselves to someone who has no job, doing so could deter them from achieving the more, such as the Lord’s promises.
Instead we should compare ourselves to Abraham, because when we look at how abundant his life was, compared to our current situation, it will ignite a revolt to see the same promises in our own lives.
Every Sunday at 10am (also 7:30am), over a course of 7 weeks, we will learn about the 7 Promises given to Abraham.
Bishop Randal Brito
bishop@uckgnew.org
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