January 16 - The Pilgrimage of Faith
Scripture
- Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Observation
It was not Abraham's plan to leave Ur and then Haran, and eventually settle in the land of Canaan. In fact, when he left Ur he had no idea where he was going. He was called by God, and only God knew what was in store for him.
In the Greek, he was called is a present participle, and the translation could be, "when he was being called." In other words, as soon as he understood what God was saying, he started packing. It was instant obedience. It may have taken several days, or even weeks or months, to make final preparation for the trip, but in his mind he was already on the way. From then on, everything he did revolved around obeying God's call.
The life of faith begins with the willingness to leave one's Ur, one's own place of sin and unbelief—to leave the system of the world. Giving up the old life is one of the greatest obstacles to coming to Christ, and is also one of the greatest obstacles to faithful living once we are in Christ. The force that makes us want to hold on to the old life is sometimes called worldliness. Worldliness may be an act, but primarily it is an attitude. It is wanting to do things that are sinful or selfish or worthless, whether we actually do them or not. It is wanting men's praise whether we ever receive it or not. It is outwardly holding to high standards of conduct, but inwardly longing to live like the rest of the world. The worst sort of worldliness is religious worldliness, because it pretends to be godly. It holds to God's standards outwardly (usually adding a few of its own), but it is motivated by selfish, worldly desires. It is pretentious and hypocritical.
Worldliness is not so much what we do as what we want to do. It is not determined so much by what our actions are as by where our heart is Some people do not commit certain sins only because they are afraid of the consequences, others because of what people will think, others from a sense of self-righteous satisfaction in resisting—all the while having a strong desire for these sins. It is the desire for sin that is the root of worldliness, and from which the believer is to be separated. The root meaning of holiness is separation, being set apart for God.
One of the surest marks of the demise of worldliness is a change in desires, in loves. As we grow in Christ and in love for Him, our love for the things of the world diminishes. They will simply lose their attraction. We will not want to do them like we used to. The pilgrimage of faith begins by separating ourselves from the world, and as we concentrate on Jesus and fellowship with Him, soon we do not care about the things we once loved so much.
Understanding
What is God saying to me?
And this is the glory of faith, namely, not to know where you are going, what you are doing, what you are suffering, and, after taking everything captive—perception and understanding, strength and will—to follow the bare voice of God and to be led and driven rather than to drive. Martin Luther
You can’t follow Jesus and stay where you are. Everyone who follows Jesus leaves something.
Abraham left his homeland; Peter and Andrew left their boats and nets; Matthew left his tax collector booth.
Everyone who follows Jesus leaves something. We leave the old life behind. We leave our sin, our old habits and addictions. We may even leave some relationships behind.
And you can’t go if you don’t leave.
God often asks us to take the next step without knowing where it leads.
And we often don’t want to go without having the whole map in front of us!
If faith can see every step of the way, it is not really faith.
It takes faith—high-risk faith—to obey and go, to take the next step when you can’t see where it leads.
Life Application
What will I do about it?
The answer is the same again – I will obey and take the next step.We are not to worry about the end result we just need to take the next step.