Genesis 12:1-9: Life with God

When God calls a person it is never only for that person. Every individual call of God is for the community to enter into a journey towards life with God. In Genesis 12:1-9 we see this truth portrayed in the story of Abram.The world was wrought with what might be described as an intentional journey away from God. From the garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel the goal of human life can be summed up in one word: "Pride." Or as the author writes in Genesis 11:4, the people were saying, "let us make a name for ourselves..." And when "making a name for yourself" becomes top priority there is no room for God. And when there is no room for God in a human life, that life begins to look less and less like anything it was created to resemble. And so it is in this context that God calls Abram. But he doesn't call Abram for Abram's sake alone, he calls him in order to "bless the families of the earth" through him. 

In Abram's calling a remarkable thing begins to take place. God, being true to his word, blesses Abram extravagantly. He goes from living a good life to living an extraordinarily great life! He was, in the words of Dallas Willard, a "drifter who managed great wealth and owned by promise the land in which [he] wandered. Everything rested on the fact that God was obviously, tangibly with [him]. [He was] positively frightening to [his] neighbors..."

In other words, God made his name great. But as God makes Abram's name great, Abram turns around and does the same thing. From each place he moved he begins a practice of "building altars" and "invoking the name of God." Mind you, this is while dwelling in a pagan, idol worshipping, land. It is there that Abram, in what he does—"building altars," and what he says—"invoking God's name," begins to make God's name known in a place where it was unknown, and thus invites others into relationship with God. 

This is how God's call works. God invites a person to journey with him, and during that journey the life of the person is transformed. The transformed person, out of a heart of gratitude, lets it be known that God is the reason. Now those who see will know that life with God is better than life apart from God. 

This means that my invitation to journey with Christ is about more than me. The same is true of you. God calls us, not only for our sakes, but he calls in order that the world who is going about life a alone, "trying to make a name for themselves," can see that life is much better when God makes a name for you.