God’s Desire
One of the great things we find when we read the Bible is that God doesn’t just do what He wants and leave us out. He includes us in the outworking of His plans!
We see this, in Genesis 17, where God includes Abram in His plans, and desires for him to become the man God created him to be. We read: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1 NIV11)
Becoming a New Person
I AM God Almighty, he says… And I want you!
I want you Abram to walk before me, to be faithful, to be blameless.
In fact God wants to make Abram into a new man, into Abraham, which means father of a multitude. Here we see how God changes his name to signify the new person He would transform Abram into: “You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:4-5 NIV11)
Sarai too, has a name change. She is now called Sarah, which means princess.
A new person.
God’s desire is not just to let us do what we want with the promise of forgiveness. His desire is for us to be made new. To go from Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah.
To go from dead to alive!
To be blameless and renewed… people of deep conviction and obedience and holiness.
Playing Your Part
At the heart of God’s promises is a promise to help Abram be Abraham. But it’s gonna take some effort on Abraham’s part. He’s going to have to learn to rely on God’s grace and live the life He is called to.
In fact at the beginning of this passage, God said “As for me”, I will do XYZ. And then we read “God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” (Genesis 17:9-11 NIV11)
God gives us his “I will”… and asks us to play our part too.
Are you willing to play your part? To turn from your Abram life and become Abraham? To leave your inner Sarai behind and become Sarah?
I will explain tomorrow how circumcision is relevant here, but for today, just a simple thought: am I playing my part in becoming the person God called me to be?
He’s not going to do it for you, friends. You have to take up the responsibility of putting your old self to death by His grace, and clothing yourself in Jesus and the armour of God.
I pray that today you will hear the I AM say “as for you, you must keep my covenant”. And then, with your faith in Him, I pray you will go and do what He is calling you to do.
