A Week of Bible Fathers #2 - Father of Faith

My son and I were in a store the other day and I started a conversation with one of the workers there.  I introduced my son out of courtesy and the worker immediately said with a laugh, “That’s an easy one to see for sure.”  Why? Because my son looks just like me except for the color of his hair, which he inherited from his mother.

If you are a Christian today, whom do you look like in your faith?  Whom do you mirror when it comes to trusting in God and following His Word?  My goal is to look like my father in faith - Abraham (Romans 4).

Abraham was not a man without his flaws and failings, as we can easily see his times of doubt and disbelief shown in Scripture.  But also just as clear is the fact that Abraham was a man of faith (Hebrews 11:8-17) and really is called the father of our faith by Paul.  I know that I can have faith even if my flesh and my will sometimes get the best of me, because I can follow my father in faith.

So what makes Abraham the father of faith?

1. Abraham’s faith always lead to action in obeying God’s Word to him.  Abraham did not just sit idly by and wait for things to come to him.  He would respond when God told him to act and was even willing to immediately leave the home he knew for a land he did not know. (Genesis 12:1-5).
2. Abraham’s faith always believed that God’s promises would happen - even if it required something from the man himself.  We often chide Abraham for taking Hagar to have the child of promise and even call it a lapse of faith, but was it a lapse of faith or Abraham just assuming that God was expecting some action on his part? (Hebrews 11:11-12)  Abraham clearly believed that God was going to give him a son, and yet no where do we find God chiding him for a lapse of faith in taking Hagar to wife.
3. Abraham’s faith always trusted that God’s end game was going to match His promises, not matter what it cost Abraham.  Remember that Abraham was fully prepared to offer Isaac as a burnt offering even though that seemed far from the fulfillment of God’s plan.  I am one that believed that Abraham believed that God was capable of raising Isaac back from the dead if he had offered him, but it also possible that Abraham just believed that God was just as capable of giving him a another son to replace Isaac.  Either way, Abraham KNEW that God’s end plan would always match God’s beginning promises (Hebrews 11:17-18).
4. Abraham had faith until the very end of his life - it never wavered.  We can see this as he knew that his son Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promises and was never going to allow anything, not even his love of his other children, to take away from that truth.  We see that Abraham made sure that the child of promise, Isaac, was placed into the rightful position of receiving the birthright, even though he did care for the other children in his life (Genesis 25:5-6).  He did this because he KNEW God had a plan and Abraham accepted by faith that plan right until his death.    

So where is your faith today?  Who do you look like in your faith?  Can you honestly say that you always take God at His Word?  Do you act upon what He says, every time He speaks?  May we mirror our faith after the father of faith - Abraham.