Surf the Internet, immerse yourself in the great libraries, sail the seven seas, and you'll never find anything so fascinating as the story of Abraham and his descendants--including the story of his One Descendant, Christ.
The one true but unseen God had called Abraham to abandon his home town and culture and trek the rest of his life in an unknown wilderness, throwing away all he could know as a career. God gave him seven grand but almost unbelievable promises (Gen. 12:1-3), and he was tempted to wonder what would happen if he believed them. Would he become the most "blessed" man of all history, or would he end up as its greatest megalomaniac?
He found it an extremely difficult task to learn how to believe. None of the social or economic privations he endured caused him such agony of soul as his wrestling with doubt about those promises. Who was he? A fool, or the one through whom "all families of the earth [should] be blessed"--the progenitor of the world's Savior?
This little micro-essay invites you to consider who you are: you are Abraham's "descendant." Yes, no one will enter the pearly gates except as a spiritual "child of Abraham," for he is "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16). That means you are also heir to those seven promises. And if you are human, that means you also have the same battle--to learn how to believe them. You are not a maniac if you believe; you are a true Christian, "Abraham's seed." You are an heir "according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29).
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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