Abram put his faith in God.
For that act righteousness, God promised Abram, he would be the father of many, the father of nations with descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky. So numerous, they would be impossible to
count.
Abram made a covenant with God.
Despite all his faults, Abraham stood firm in his covenant with God. And
despite all their faults, many of Abraham’s descendants remain faithful to God
That is
an amazing thing. Those of us are parents and
grandparents realize that no matter how hard we try to raise our children to
live the life that we expect them to have it doesn’t always work out.
We hope they have the same faith, the same beliefs, the same values, and
true morals and just causes; but, sometimes we can be disappointed.
Our children are their own persons. They live their own life
experiences.
From their experiences of God and others and the experiences of life,
they become who they are. And yes, we who are the parents and grandparents and
aunts and uncles and influencers in their life are in that make up as well. We compete
with all these other things.
That is the place the apostle Paul was coming from as he preached to the
Philippians. Brothers and sisters conduct your selves
after the model of us, after the model of true believers, after the models of
the followers of Christ.
Paul stated many conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.
There god is their stomach. Their glory is shame.
Their God is what they find in this world.
Paul tells believers: stand firm.
The change needed to change the world’s impact on our lives is something
more than this world. A true change is a personal experience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like the experience of Peter, James, and John. These three men have been with Christ, his disciples; they were the inner circle. They lived at the heart of his teaching. They knew what he believed.
They knew who he was; but it took this transfiguration to really bring
home to them that Jesus was more than just a mere man. He was more than just a
Messiah that would bring civil revolution to the world.
When the cloud descended upon the mountain, the face of Jesus changed. The
way these three men saw Jesus changed.
Jesus was filled with the light of God, the light of the Christ. And a
voice from heaven said this is my beloved son in whom I am proud, do as he
says. They were in the presence of the living and incarnate God.
These three men witnessed the most marvelous event were afraid when the
cloud descended and the heard the voice of God.
They stood their ground.
What about us?
Today people experience God in ever day miracles and small ways. Every breath
we take, every day we live, and every person we love. In all the things that make our small little
world livable in this infinite creation, people fail to give credit to God.
We give credit to the gods of our stomachs. People regard these miracles
and gifts the results of our own labors our own talents.
And then there’s a
crisis or devastating illness, we search for something greater than the small
everyday miracles and demand more. We turn to God ignoring all He has done for
us and ask for instantaneous miracles.
No miracle is impossible for God.
But our lack of faith can make it impossible for us to realize the
existence of these miracles. God’s miracles go unnoticed.
In these times, we must stand firm.
Instead, some will question God. God didn’t grant the miracles we
demand.
Miracles can happen in an instant, but most miracles happen over a
lifetime or generations or over the course of history.
The greatest miracle is God coming into a person’s life. The miracle is the
presence of peace and joy in the time of crisis. It is the miracle of Jesus,
Emanuel God is with us.
Build in our hearts a
place for the one true God, God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Open our hearts to the light to come. That is the greatest of miracles. It is the answer
to the question.
Friends during this season of Lent prepare a place for the Lord.
He will change us. We will come to conform to his glorified body. He
brings us closer to him so we may all stand firm in the Lord.
Stand firm, for other's see God in our lives and the examples of our lives and our love. Through our lives He can live in others.
Stand firm, be good, be holy and preach
the gospel by the way you live and love one another. Amen.
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