Monday; August 10

One of the heroes of faith throughout all times is the Old Testament great, Abraham.  There are several things that endeared him to the Lord and set an example for us including his willingness to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.  In fact, one New Testament writer noted, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” (James 2:21).  I cannot imagine the amount of faith it took to be willing to sacrifice a child, but an interesting thing happened on the way to fulfilling this act of righteousness – he never had to kill his son.  He was willing to do it, but God spared him.  

As I got to thinking about this I was struck by the fact that sometimes a willingness to do something is as important as the actual deed.  Abraham was no less an example of righteousness because he didn’t actually kill Isaac, he went as far as he could considering the circumstances.  The reason that this got my attention is wondering how many times we are willing to do something, but never get the opportunity?  We are willing to help others or give of ourselves, but we just don’t get the chance.  This doesn’t mean that we didn’t do what we were supposed to do – it just means that God had other plans for us.  Not actually going through with the spiritual  action, doesn’t make us less faithful.  We shouldn’t be ashamed or feel that our faithfulness is any less than others.

Let’s do all we can and be satisfied with the effort we’ve made.  When we do that, we fulfill our requirement for obedience.

Think About It!


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