Today’s Scripture

Psalm 5           Genesis 12:1-8            Mark 3;13-19

 

            This week’s readings in Genesis begin with Cain and Abel in chapter 4.  God shows us how sin manifests itself.  One man gives his best from the heart to God, another gives as a ritual.  One man envies and kills another.  Also, men begin to call on the name of the Lord, men worship and pray.

            Sin grows as we read in the account of Noah and the flood.  God washes sin away and gives a new start in life.  He makes a promise and seals it with the rainbow which he sees in its completeness above the clouds.  God wants to always be reminded of his promises to his people, just the same as he wants us to always see the reminders of his love and faithfulness to us.

            We move on to Abram who later is re-named Abraham.  Who is this Abram?  We see he is the son of Terah.  In my home area, people would ask, “Who are you?”  When I answered, their next question usually was, “Who is your father?”  (That was to distinguish between my father and his brother).  The question changed from “Who are you?” to, “Whose are you?”

            Abram left his home, where people knew who he was.  He followed God’s command to a land that was not his, that was occupied and owned by other people.  God makes a great promise here, that Abram’s descendants will own this land and will fill the earth.  Abram gave up who he was to be the one God called him to be. 

            As we read on this week about Abram, he does not always follow God’s will as he should.  We also see God’s faithfulness in his promises to Abram, as God forgives and continues to strengthen Abram’s faith in God, and fulfills his promises to Abram.  We see Abraham impatient as compared to God’s timing.  We also see how God continues to complete his promises according to his timing, and for the sake of not just Abram, but for us today as we follow God as Abram followed God, as we are God’s children as Abram was God’s child.  God even changes Abram’s name to Abraham.

            Who are you?  You are a child of man, conceived and born in sin.  But God has called you through his word.  In baptism he has given you a new name, Christian, as he adopts you as his dear child.  As Paul writes [1 Corinthians 6:19] you are no longer your old sinful self, but a temple of the Holy Spirit (who lives in you).  You are not your own.

            The world knows you by your name, your social security number, your address, the different teams you play on or the clothes you wear.  The world does not know you as Christian because it does not know Christ.  The world wants you to be a child of the world as it entices you with the “things” of this world, what you own and what you do and what you wear and where you go.  Christ is in you to tell the world whose you are in what you do and what you wear and what you say, think and do. 

            You are children of Abraham.  Abraham trusted God and God credited it to him as righteousness [no less than 5 times in Scripture).  You are Abraham’s children as you believe and trust in God for the daily things in life to eternal life with him through the forgiveness won by Jesus on the cross. 

            Today in the campaigns for elected offices and in the resume’s for employment, the applications for mortgages, tryouts for teams and other organizations, the question is “Who are you.”  That is important in the affairs of the day-to-day issues of this earth.  We will read that as Abram and Sarai travel to Egypt. But we never leave our name behind.  We are not to forget whose we are, children of God brought into this world by him, claimed in faith and in baptism as his dear children, and to share his love in Jesus Christ to all. 

            We give thanks for who we are, the blessings of this earth.  We give thanks and rejoice in whose we are, God’s dear children now and forever.  Amen.