Hebrews 11:17-19
Christians practice faith on a daily basis. Faith becomes a natural part of their lives. Thanking God for the start of a new day is an act of faith. However, some days obviously require more faith than others do. It is easy to believe God is in charge on a beautiful day; it is harder when hurricane force winds are threatening to blow our house down. The storm may tempt a new Christian to lose faith, but the temptation will be more subtle for an established Christian. We see this illustrated in the life of Abraham. In the beginning, he was tempted to doubt God, but each time God brought him through victoriously his faith became stronger. As Abraham’s faith became stronger the nature of his temptation shifted. He was no longer tempted to lose faith completely, but was rather tempted to shift the focus of his faith slightly away from God. At one point in his walk with God, he gave into the temptation to believe that God needed his help to fulfill the promise. His son Ishmael was the result of Abraham’s attempt to achieve God’s plan in his own strength. Later he was tempted to place faith in the promise, rather than in the promise giver. At times, he was tempted to place faith in his faith. He was sure that if only he believed strongly enough, God would keep his promise. He finally realized that he could not do God’s work for him, his faith was not the secret to getting it done, and even the promise itself was not where the power laid. The promise, the timing and the power were all in God’s hands. Finally, Isaac was born, and God tested Abraham’s faith one final time. Did he have faith in the gift, or was his faith still in the gift giver? Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, because he trusted God. As Christians, we have faith; for it to be Christian faith, it must remain centered in God.