Jump Start # 3908
Hebrews 11:9 “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.”
God told Abraham to leave and he did. He went not knowing where he was going, this Hebrew text tells us. Abraham didn’t know, but God did. By faith, Abraham trusted God. The Lord knew what He was doing.
I think sometimes we get the idea that Abraham simply changed zip codes. Most of us have moved around in our lives. We moved as kids. We moved to a college. We got an apartment. Got married and bought our first house. Later, there was another house. The U-hauls. The boxes. The setting up of a new place. But, for Abraham it was much different than that. Archaeological and historical studies into Ur, where Abraham came from, shows that is was a very modern city at that time. Houses, plumbing, stores, a regular city. Our verse tells us that Abraham went from that to living in tents. Now, these tents weren’t the kind you roll up and put on your back as you are hiking. These tents were massive, yet they were tents.
And, right there, just under the surface, if you look hard enough you find a lesson. Often in obeying God, we trade what is comfortable and convenient for what is inconvenient. Giving the choice of a house or a tent, I’m taking the house. I have friends that camp. Not me. When asked if I want to come, my reply is, “What floor of the Hilton am I staying on?”
But, the convenient for the inconvenient didn’t stop with Abraham. Forty years in the wilderness, Israel travel about. They moved from spot to spot. In the N.T., Peter, James and John, had a business, homes and a regular life. Chosen to be apostles, they left all of that. They followed the Messiah from village to village. Often, they were hungry. Often, they were caught in storms. It wasn’t like going home at the end of a day’s work for them. The convenient became the inconvenient.
And, this is a lesson for us as well. We want Jesus and we want to be disciples, but we don’t want to be bothered very much. We want convenience. We want things easy. And, often, it’s just not easy.
Here are some thoughts:
First, when we try to smooth out the wrinkles that come with being a disciple, we often compromise and settle for less than what the Lord expects and wants from us. Those first Christians were chased, prisoned, beaten and killed. There is nothing comfortable about that. Paul described what it was like to be an apostle with words of hungry, thirsty and homeless.
In a culture that doesn’t do well with inconveniences, we must muster the faith that God wants us to have. We don’t like waiting. Stopped traffic, lines in the checkout, long waits in waiting rooms and we become impatient. And, when we try to make Christianity a matter of 1-2-3, and soften it and water it down so everyone likes it, soon it no longer looks like what the Bible teaches. Jesus talked about a father and a mother turning their own kids in to be persecuted. The Corinthians were told about unbelievers walking out of a marriage. Leaving Ur for tents, something we need to think about.
Second, whatever inconvenience, trouble or bother we experience will quickly be forgotten once we are on the other side with the Lord. These momentary, light afflictions as Paul called them are nothing to the eternal glory awaiting us.
Now, how we handle these inconveniences says a lot about our faith. We don’t read about Abraham wanting to turn around and go back to Ur. Israel did with Egypt. They complained the whole journey. They weren’t happy, nor content. And, God wasn’t pleased with them.
What a lesson for us. I knew a young man years ago who was thinking about preaching. I was helping him some. His family gathered every week in another city for fun and games. It was like a family reunion every weekend. He wanted to be with them. I told him that there wasn’t a big demand for sermons on a Tuesday. For 2,000 years, preachers have preached on Sunday. It didn’t take long and he gave up the preaching idea.
Our spirits and our attitudes have so much to do in making the inconveniences even worse than what they are.
Third, it’s hard to look at Jesus and think about how tough we have it. In my basement I have an old wooden pew that came from an old church where my grandparents once belonged. There are no pads on that old pew. Stuck in the back was an old funeral home fan. That was their air conditioning back then. That’s just the way it was. Many today would rather have their teeth pulled out than to have to sit on those old wooden pews for very long.
Sometimes following Jesus isn’t convenient. But, following Jesus will take you home to God.
Roger