photo #5905764

"Lesson From Abraham"“In matters of preference, go with the flow. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”I don’t remember where I first heard that. It was years ago. But I’ve been pondering it a lot lately as a Christ-follower in a disintegrating culture. The Apostle Paul urged his readers to “count others more significant than yourselves…and look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” You should meditate on that sometime. Those are heavy statements.But what does that look like in real life? Abraham comes to mind. When they finally arrived in the land he gave his nephew first pick of the pasturage. Abraham was the uncle, the patriarch, the leader, and yet he deferred to his nephew, and when Lot took the lush plains Abraham, without a word, took the sparse hilly country. He put Lot first, considered him more important than himself, and exhibited the kind of humility God delights in and richly blesses. By the way, of the two, Abraham was the one who got fabulously rich. The Israelites did not consider others more significant than themselves. They despised the Gentiles (all non-Jews) and treated them with contempt. Paul pushed hard to turn the tide on that in the church, but over time the lesson has been somewhat lost. I say that because we Christ-followers fight like anyone else for the promotion at work. We don’t typically defer. We get indignant when we aren’t treated with respect. We’re offended by the antics of the HOA. We moan and groan when our kids don’t get picked for the team, or the play, or whatever, never mind how much the other kid might deserve it.Can you imagine how our little corner of the world would be affected if all the believers lived out the spirit of Abraham? And what the blessing of God would look like?I think we should try it.