Monday, September 13, 2010
Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
ABRAHAM: THE TRAVELER
"Just passing through." That's how a certain e-mailer closes her letters to friends and family. Hers is the joyful testimony of the pilgrim Christian. This child of God travels light, refusing to be weighed down by the cares and pleasures of this life. While an imperfect woman, with more than her share of troubles, she's looking ahead with peace-filled anticipation to a better country, a home built for her by the wood of her Savior's cross.
Abraham traveled the same way. The Bible introduces Abraham to us as a city slicker from the metropolitan center of ancient Ur. But the LORD called Abraham to pack his bags and head west. After a sojourn in Haran in the north, Abraham made his way to the heathen land of Canaan. Except for a short stay in Egypt, Abraham spent the rest of his time of grace as a stranger in a foreign country, living in tents, never settling down in one place for very long.
Abraham's was not an easy life. Many heartbreaks, some of his own making, met him along the way. However, sustained by a multitude of God's promises, this sinner-saint kept a steady eye on things to come. Those promises of grace included, the giving of the land to his descendants, the making of his family into a great nation, and the coming of a future Descendant who would bring blessings to all peoples. It was this last promise -- this promise of a Savior -- which, above all else, made Abraham a light traveler, pressing on to something better.
Dear reader, you and I are too often caught up with the world, with its goals and its concerns. Let us learn to travel light, keeping our hearts on minds on Christ and the things above. "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come" (Hebrews 13:14).
I'm but a stranger here, Heav'n is my home;
Earth is a desert drear, Heav'n is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand Round me on every hand;
Heav'n is my fatherland, Heav'n is my home.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 660:1)
