February 27: LOVE AWAKENS LOVE

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

Already, God had begun calling Abram. Notice that He had said… This calling was a call to make an exit from the surrounding fallen culture. Our fallen human nature has a tendency to succumb to gravity—the gravity of sin—moving ever downward. But the good news is that God’s tender voice beckons us heavenward, to catch glorious glimpses of that place: the land that God promised . . . “a land that I will show you.”

The pattern of being called out of the surrounding culture, even in Abram’s day, was not new. Noah, referred to by Peter as a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), preached for a hundred and twenty years to everyone around him as he labored to build the ark. This was God’s emphatic call to all people to leave their corrupted ways behind and escape the coming judgement. God’s prophets were His instruments to call His people out of the influences of worldly ways. They were never popular, yet some of their hearers recognized the leading of the Heavenly Father through their words.

We all need spiritual leadership. A lack of it creates an empty, aching void. While God uses humans as spiritual leaders, humans are only as effective as their alertness to be led by His Holy Spirit. We are to test what we are taught by the written word (see Isaiah 8:20, Acts 17:11). Have I considered that God has placed me in a position to be a spiritual leader to someone, to consistently point them toward the Savior and His Word? The Spirit Himself speaks to every heart that is not hardened against Him. Abram’s call was not to abandon his family and country, but to become God’s obedient servant—and thereby become God’s instrument to lead others heavenward. How often we will argue with Him, saying that our obedience will hurt others. But this is only a pretense of thinking of others. The absolute best gift we can give to those around us is undiluted obedience to the Lord. To follow Jesus with an undivided heart will make way for His blessings to spill over into the lives of others.

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.” (v.2)

It is the voice of Love that calls. Beloved, do you hear that voice? Love awakens love! Is He in His rightful place as your first love*? With your spiritual eyes, allow Him to reveal that “land that [He] will show you.”

But as it is written, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10a

*Revelation 2:4