"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." Genesis 12:1
Abram had received a call from God to leave his pagan country and seek Canaan, the homeland of promise. A careful reading of the seventh chapter of Acts, however, reveals that Abram allowed natural affection and ties of the flesh to hold him back from doing the will of the Lord completely. He just couldn't bring himself to the necessary separation from his father and his kinfolk. While he started out from Ur of the Chaldees, he bogged down in Haran and apparently dwelt there for some time. His old father Terah could go no further, and Abram fell short of God's perfect will for his life by failing to yield total obedience. God therefore had to remove Terah by the hand of death, for he was holding back Abram's spiritual progress.
How often we too are prone to forget that God demands total obedience and separation from the things of this world. Nothing must be allowed to retard our progress in sanctification. Often we tend to take lower ground and camp there for awhile rather than to press on immediately to the Canaan of complete surrender.
"Will you tell me in a word," said a Christian woman to a teacher, "what is your idea of consecration?" Pulling out a blank sheet of paper, the teacher replied, "It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet, let God fill it in as He wills, and then follow His orders."
Are you letting circumstances of loved ones stand in the way of your complete surrender to God's will? If you ever wish to reach the Canaan of victory, you will have to render full obedience!
"Bread For Each Day"
That blank sheet of paper...very good metaphor...thanks for this...
ReplyDelete