We live in a world filled with creature comforts. The comforts we enjoy so much often keep us from experiencing some of the best things in life. For example, I know a lot of people who were born in one town, raised in that same town, grew up and bought a home in that same town, and are now growing old and plan to die there. Now don’t get me wrong. Some of these folks that I am talking about I love dearly. But I wonder, are some of us so consumed with the creature comforts that we enjoy, that we have missed a great opportunity?
Sometimes God calls us to do great things, but we are so caught up in our creature comforts that we miss that call and the blessings that go with it.
In the book of Genesis, we are told of a man named Abram. This is the same man who later is known as Abraham. God speaks to Abram, and He makes a request. God asks Abram to pick up and leave his home country, leave his family, and start walking to a place that God will later show him. Now I don’t know about you, but this is a huge ask. He is asking Abram to leave his family. That in itself would be tough. Another part of that request is to leave his country. For us here in Canada that also would be difficult. The last part of what God is asking for here is probably the hardest. God asks Abram to move, but He doesn’t tell Abram where to go, just to start walking.
Now, we need to be clear, this was not just an empty request. God made sure to let Abram know that there was much to be gained in responding to the request. In fact, the promise God made to Abram has become quite famous to those who spend time studying the Bible:
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:2-3
If you dissect this promise, you will see that there are seven aspects to this promise. The first part is that God promises to make a great nation out of Abram– the nation we now know as Israel. The second part is simply that God will bless Abram. The third part is that God will make Abram’s name great. In fact Abram gets a new name, Abraham, and he eventually becomes known as a “friend of God”. The fourth part of the promise is that Abram will be a blessing to others. Those in Abram’s time no doubt learned that. The fifth part is that those who bless Abram will be blessed. The larger aspect of this is that Abram becomes the nation of Israel, and the implication is that those who bless Israel will be blessed. The sixth part is the opposite of the previous: those that curse or fight against Israel will be cursed. That should be a warning to all of us. Finally, the greatest part of the promise is that from Abram all the families will be blessed. This is a prophetic reference to Jesus. In Jesus, any person from around the world can enjoy the blessings of God.
If you believe in God, there is a basic question that we have to ask. Is there something in your life that God is asking you to do, but you have been too afraid or too comfortable to do it? God sometimes asks us to step out of our comfort zone. It may be something as simple as helping out a neighbor, doing some extra project at work, or even just being a friend to that person at the local club. Don’t neglect doing some of the simple things, the reward is great.
But there is an even more important question for all of us to ask ourselves. There is a sense in which each of us have been called by God. God has made a great promise to all of us. He has promised that He will forgive us of all of our sins, and that He will also give us eternal life, if only we will step out and ask for His forgiveness and choose to follow Him. That is a huge ask, but it also has a huge reward. I have heard it said that the gift of salvation is free, but it will cost you your entire life. It is a big deal, but I am convinced that it is worth it.