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Embody The Blessing
Apr 30, 06:30 PM
God said to Abram, “I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing . . . through you and your offspring shall all of the nations on earth be blessed.” ~Genesis 12:2
Who knows why God choose Abraham. He is certainly not larger than life or endowed with special insights and capabilities. In fact, as the story unfolds, we see in Abraham many of our own human frailties and weaknesses. Perhaps it was that God saw something in him that He felt like He could work with. Most of the time, when God chooses someone, it is not because they are so great; it is because He thinks they might just believe Him and say yes. That was certainly true in Mary’s case. Who knows why any of us have been the recipients of the grace we have received? It’s a waste of time trying to figure all of that out. To me, it’s like playing ball in the school yard. I don’t know why God chose me for His team, but I am going to do my very best to show Him He didn’t make a mistake.
God chose a human being to be an integral part of His plan of salvation. In fact, everything that God does, He does with and through human beings. He won’t do it without us. We are part of the problem; we will be part of the solution. The reality is, God could do anything without us. But He has chosen to do it with us. He won’t do it without us. But it really is a better way. What if God had said something like, “Look, you all have made such a mess of things. I will save you, I will redeem you, I will get you into heaven. Just get out of my way. In fact just sit over there while I do it and please, whatever you do, don’t touch anything!” How demeaning. The fact that God has chosen to work with us and include us in His plan of redemption is actually a tribute to His love for us and His desire to work with us and not in spite of us. What we do matters. God is the greatest elevator of human dignity that there is. In his 1960 inaugural address, John F. Kennedy said, “God’s work must truly be our own.” 2 Corinthians 6:1 says, “Working together with Him, I urge you not to receive the grace of the Lord in vain.
When God called Abraham, He called Him to do some things. But more than that, God called Abraham to be something. “You will be a blessing.” He is not calling Abraham to do something nearly as much as He is calling Abraham to become something. The blessing God has for the nations will in habit Abraham and his offspring. It is really the beginning of inncarnational reality. Abraham is being called to be the carrier and the conduit of God’s blessing of the nations. It is even the foretaste of God’s indwelling us through the Holy Spirit. Most of us consider our life in God to be something that we do or a message that we convey. Abraham is being called to embody a blessing – to become the blessing.
Why is this important? Because our life in God is not just activity, it is an identity. John 1:12 says, “As many as receive Him, who believe in His Name, he gave them the power to become children of God.” That’s not an activity, although there are certainly expectations of God’s children for faith and practice. It is an identity. It is who we are. God is calling us in the same way to embody the blessing. Until our life in God becomes who we are, we will do it, or not do it, according to our moods or situations. Ever find yourself sometimes being “spiritual” and sometimes not? Ever find yourself “turning on your spirituality” to meet a particular situation or in light of the person you were with? But if Christ becomes your identity, you can’t turn it on or off depending on the circumstances.
Embody the blessing.