Believing God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

BELIEVING GOD

Rom 4:1-3

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about — but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  

NIV

There is still more about this righteousness from God. Paul continues to talk about this idea of boasting before men because we have absolutely nothing to boast before God about. Abraham was not rendered innocent, or “justified” because of any works that he did, however, Paul says that if he had anything to boast about it would not be before God. So what good does it to boast at all, except to look good in the eyes of men? For any of our works are meaningless when it comes to being rendered innocent. Abraham did not even have the law that was given to Moses, for he lived far before Moses. So what was so special about Abraham that he was considered righteous? It is so simple because the reason was that he believed God. Which time that he believed God was it that caused him to be credited with righteousness? Was it when he left Ur? Was it when he left Haran, leaving his family behind? Was it when he gave his nephew Lot the choice of which way to go? Was it when the Lord and two angels visited him in his old age and told him he and Sarah would have a son? Was it when God changed his name from Abram to Abraham or when he made that covenant between those animals Abraham had to cut in half? Many of us believe it was when God told him to take his son Isaac up onto a mountain that God would show him to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is interesting that the mountain is Mt Moriah the place God told Abraham to take Isaac to, and there is where Isaac questioned his father about the sacrifice and Abraham told Isaac that God would provide the lamb. Jerusalem is built upon Mt Moriah, and it is where God sacrificed his Son, the Lamb of God. This had to be the time that God rendered Abraham’s belief in Him as righteousness, but considering it appears Abraham spent most of his life believing God, we wonder if it was not everything that Abraham believed God that was credited to him as righteousness. Of course, there were times it did not look like Abraham trusted God, in the early days of their travels because of the beauty of Sarah. Still, the fact remains, Abraham was rendered righteous not by any works, but simply because he believed God. We get it, we understand that none of our works, our “Good deeds” have anything to do with our salvation, for that comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ, and faith alone. Yet, we want to do works because we love God and want to either show him how much we love him by our works, or we feel compelled to do works out of an obligation to God, or we just want others to see how spiritual we are and look for their affirmation. What we know for sure is that all we want to be known for is that we believe God. Men may say a lot of things about God, and some of their words may well be true, but God is the only one who is true, and so he is the only one we can believe, and it cannot be just once for our salvation, but it must be a life of believing God.