If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9
As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” ( Genesis 17:1 ). - Oswald Chambers
(HT: My Utmost for His Highest)
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” ( Genesis 17:1 ). - Oswald Chambers
(HT: My Utmost for His Highest)
John MacArthur said "as soon as you begin talking about your "rights" in a relationship, it's the beginning of the end of it". I think that is an awesome statement. And I love the above statement that if we live a life of faith we will exercise our right to waive our rights. There are so many situations in life where we have the opportunity to waive a right to someone else and thereby be set apart and be salt & light. In an era of materialism and me-gratification, this makes an awesome witness to a lost world.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, Anonymous. Greater love hath no man than he who lays his life down for his friends. Not only does this apply to those around us, but it is what happens when we surrender ourselves to Christ. We lay down everything about us - all control, our will, our very lives (figuratively and potentially literally) - and give Him the reigns.
ReplyDeleteSteve Lawson says it this way, "You must transfer ownership of all that you are and all that you have to all that He is...your life is no longer your life, it is His life. Your time is no longer your time, it is now His time. Your possession are no longer your possessions, they are His possessions. Your future is no longer your future, it is His future. Your treasure is no longer your treasure, it is His treasure. And you have transferred all that you are and all that you have to all that He is. That's what it means to meet His terms of peace."
If you have never seen it, here's the video of Steve Larson from I'll Be Honest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JQOBMi4QS8