“No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be
Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from
you.”
Genesis 17:5,6
When God encounters Abram, he is never the same. Abram shows
his faith in God by leaving his country and taking all that he has to go to the
land God shows him. He also shows his impatience in listening to Sarai’s
request to produce an heir through her maidservant, Hagar. Abram is not perfect,
but God has chosen him. Sound familiar? God has also chosen to use imperfect
humans today!
Here Abram forever becomes Abraham. The name change is from
“Father” to “Father of Nations.” The Lord, the unchanging One, goes on to
change Sarai’s name to Sarah. Then, he requires Abraham and all his family to
be set apart from other nations by circumcision.
Immediately, Abraham accepts the name God has given to him
and his wife and follows God’s commands to circumcise his family. Abraham is
forever identified as a child of the living God. Though he falters in his
faith, he is forever knows as the “Father of Nations.” Even to us, living
Christ followers today, he is the Father of Nations, the nation into which we
have been grafted.
Abraham immediately changes his name and receives a new life.
He will never be Abram, follower of pagan gods. Then, God will make him exceedingly fruitful.
The same is true today. As we follow Christ, we are daily
being changed:
“But we
all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
Spirit of the Lord.”~ 2
Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
We see promises of transformation in this culture.
Television and media tells us to take a pill or follow these steps for change.
The only true change is in Jesus Christ.
He is ready to transform you into who you were created to
be. Just surrender.
Blessings,
Robert Furrow
Posts
