Today I came across a familiar passage in my reading. I shutter to think how often I skim over “familiar” passages and take them for granted. Thankfully the Holy Spirit prompted me to meditate on this one:
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;
Genesis 12:1-4a
This is the famous call to Abram who would become the father of Israel and eventually, Abraham, the friend of God. What an amazing journey! I often go to the life of Abraham for inspiration in my own journey as a father, husband and man of God. Abraham experienced great struggle, loss, failure, sacrifice and incredible victory. All of which speak volumes about how everyman is able to do the same simply by trusting God. His incredible account is found in Genesis chapters 12 – 25.
As I read over how it all started in Abram’s life it occurred to me what God was asking of Abram. This father of Israel, and eventual friend of God started out just like you and I – just like everyman. But before the great promise of blessing in vv. 2-3, God asks Abram to completely shed his identity. Look at what God instructs him to do in verse 1:
#1 – “Get thee out of thy country.”
What’s in a country? Here in the U.S., citizens proudly wave their banner year around for the old red, white and blue. It happens in other countries too. It’s natural and whether by favoring your country’s soldiers on the battlefield, or rooting every four years for your favorite national athlete in the Olympics, it’s just built in to a person – the country they come from. It is predictable and at some level, safe, even for those in repressive regimes. How important of a connection is a person’s country to their identity? Apparently deeply important, as it is the first layer that God commands Abram to shed. I wondered how willing we as men would be to completely shed our national identity to follow God? Does my patriotism and reverence for the Constitution and Founding Fathers compare to my devotion to the cross of Christ? God forbid, but I think sometimes it is much easier to embrace the nature of our heritage as countrymen then be willing to shed it if necessary for the cause of Christ. Would I be willing to leave it behind to follow God to another part of the world? What if it required giving up that part of my identity permanently?
#2 – Get thee out “from thy kindred.”
If a person’s country is important to their identity, then a person’s kindred, is even more intricately woven into the fabric of a person. Many people associate kindred with family, but it means something slightly broader than that. It contains the root word, “kind,” and essentially encompasses those things or people that are similar. God was asking Abram to not only leave his national identity, but also leave behind everything similar in kind to those things and people who were kindred in his old spirit, old attitudes, old beliefs, old values, old feelings… As God continues to peel the layers away from the old man, Abram, the challenge becomes more intense. As you obey the Lord, have you noticed the people and things you surround yourself with changing? Have you left behind that which was kindred to the old, pre-Christ you?
#3 – Get thee out “from thy father’s house.”
Finally, in this short, compact list we see God asking Abram to shed the most intimate layer of identity, his family. This probably doesn’t need a lot of elaboration, but to say that it involves the foundational layer of a person is probably not a stretch. I can think of no other connection so close as a person’s family. God designed it this way for our good that we might be protected and provided for. And that relationship you have with your mom, dad, aunt, grandparent, child, brother, sister, nephew, niece… is a powerful bond, sealed by shared experiences and sealed by the shared interest of preserving the all important family (and thereby yourself) that naturally exists when you share the same name. I know that I would do anything for my family. But am I as a man willing to shed my old foundational identity for God’s? As you read Abram’s story, you’ll find that he had to come face to face with that very question.
Before I moved on in my reading of Genesis 12, I had to ask myself whether or not I’ve turned over each part of my identity to God. In Luke 14:26 Jesus lays out what it means to be a true follower of his by talking about what it means to turn over your identity,
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
Fortunately the love that God gives you is unending so that there is exceeding more than enough to spread around between your country, kindred and family. All the same, don’t diminish the fact that Jesus, here in the gospel of Luke, illustrates the nature of what your devotion to anything else in this world must be like compared to your devotion to the Lord. Oh, that we as men might be that type of Disciple! The road to this sort of life starts one way. Abram believed and obeyed. He may not have understood at that early moment of his journey the depth of what God was asking of him, but what he did understand he moved on:
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;
Genesis 12:4a
This week I want to encourage you to listen to the Word of the Lord to identify ways you might depart as the Lord speaks to you. This week, be sensitive to what God would have you shed literally and comparatively so that Jesus might be magnified in you.
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