Named then became

Wednesday February 20th, Romans 4: 17-18 We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!" I like that, first named and then became. You are a child of God. God has called you before you were born, sanctified you at your birth and commissioned you at your public baptism, now it is up to you to let God have the reins. Do you tend more to go to church or gather for worship? If it is the former, you are still in charge and your life is going nowhere compared to where it could go if let God have the reins. If you miss church some Sunday do you have more time for you and your family or do you have an empty feeling inside. If all you have is more time, you are missing the point of having the time. Live into God’s calling for you and your life, you might not have more time, but every moment will be precious.