Scripture: Romans 4:13-25 (NRSV)
I love the rules. I love knowing what I can and cannot do, what will get me into trouble and for what I cannot receive punishment. I revel in order, like going in the “Enter” door at the grocery store and going out the “Exit” side. I like to sign contracts saying I will not break the rules and feeling confident I won’t.
But in reading Romans 4:13-15, I came to the understanding that Abraham didn’t exactly sign a contract saying, “I, Abraham, promise not to break the laws. In return, I will earn the title of ‘father of many nations’ and will have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.” Abraham received God’s blessing through faith that God would do as God had promised. Abraham didn’t look at his old self and Sarah, who had been barren, and attempt to tell God that, as a rule, people like them didn’t have children. Abraham believed God and was ready for a baby. Instead of signing up to never break the rules, Abraham signed up to experience a miraculous adventure with God.
So, of course, the question is: how does this apply to us now? Well, I’m going to work hard to stop focusing on the rules. I’ll still be a (mostly) law-abiding citizen, but God doesn’t always use rules to get God’s plans accomplished. I’ll try to sign up for God’s adventure, even if it means going out the “Enter” door once in a while.
Scripture: Romans 4:13-25 (NRSV)
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,
17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
23Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.