Gen. 12:1-4:
“And YHWH said to Abram,
Get yourself up and go
from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation; and I will bless you; and I will make your name great.
And be a blessing.
And I will bless those who bless you; whereas the one who belittles you, I will curse; and in you will be blessed all kinship groups on the earth.
And Abram went just as YHWH said to him.”
For the past few months the pastoral team has been doing discipleship together using the level 2 material from Church Renewal (our life groups are doing level 1). The level 2 material focuses on growing in character and maturity.
One important thing I’m realizing through discipleship is that growing in maturity and character is an ongoing process that never really ends. There is no time in our lives where we can honestly say “I’ve arrived,” as if there’s nothing else that God wants us to learn. God wants to continuously reshape our character no matter where we are in our journey. No matter how far we’ve come or how much we know, His work of shaping us is never over.
The main theme of Gen. 12:1-4 is “get yourself up and go, and be a blessing.” One important thing we learn from these verses is that being a blessing is linked to obedience. Abraham could have never been a blessing without being willing to obey God and leave where he was to follow God’s command. It was Abraham’s obedience that released the blessing that God intended.
We’re able to be a blessing to others to the degree that we’re willing to be reshaped by God. As God reshapes us, He uses us to be a bigger and bigger blessing to others. There is really no limit to how big of a blessing we can be. In the same way, God wants to continuously reshape our character so that as we grow in obedience, we’re able to bless others in greater and greater ways. May we never stop allowing God to change and reshape us, and may we never stop growing in our ability to be a blessing.