The Thang
Bible study is scheduled for 0600 on July 16th at Morning Call in City Park. We will be discussing the first chapter of the book How God Makes Men which studies the life of Abraham. You can purchase the book here: http://www.amazon.com/How-
Having the book is not mandatory to attending. Feel free to come check out the discussion even if you haven’t read the chapter or bought the book. All are welcome, with or without preparation. However, if you are interested, checkout the applicable chapters in Genesis Chapters 11 – 22.
If that seems like a lot of Old Testament reading to you, check out the condensed version of the story in the New Testament: Hebrews 11:8-19.
In discussing with JV he has some even condensered versions – “While Abraham trusts God, he continues to screw up sometimes in awfully spectacular ways, but God made a promise to him and there it is. We’re all lucky suckers, thank God.” Or to condense even more: “God blesses, we sin, yet he still forgives with more grace.”
Abraham did make some spectacularly poor decisions…a bit surprising coming from the man referred to as the Father of our Faith. Regardless of his mistakes we can learn a lot from the amount of trust He had in God.
Chapter 1 of the book speaks of 3 tests God put to Abraham:
- Will you believe God’s great promise for an invisible future or cling to the visible present? (related to God commanding Abraham to leave Ur and go to an unknown land.)
- Will you trust God to do what seems impossible? (related to God’s promise of a son to Abraham in his old age.)
- Are you willing to Give God the one thing you most want to keep? (Related to God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his only son.)
One of the things that jumped out to me in this Chapter was the Author’s explanation of Bible Time . He referenced the passage in 2 Peter 3:8 – “Dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape you: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Do you think this concept of Bible Time is applicable today? Does it change the way we live? Have you ever had a calling that you expected in short order that was fulfilled in Bible Time?
Lastly, take a moment to think about the parallels of exercising your faith and physical exercise. How do you exercise your faith? Does exercising your faith make it grow? Can your faith get weaker as you get older? What would cause it to weaken?
See you in the light,
Hawg
