Imagine

While considering God testing Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, (Gen. 22) I came upon an interesting thought in my reading.  If we wanted to devise a test that would be comparable to Abraham’s test we could ask ourselves, “Are you willing to give up eternity in heaven for God?” That is a more accurate portrayal of the test than asking if we would be willing to give up our hormonally challenged, mood swinging, emotional basket case of a teenager.  That would be a tough thing for us most days, but its not the same as the test Abraham faced.

Abraham was being asked to sacrifice the promises God had made to him.  Isaac WAS the promise of descendants as numerous as the sands of the sea. Isaac WAS the promise of all the nations of the earth being blessed through Abraham. All of God's promises to Abraham were wrapped up in this boy.

Join me in the “Way-Back” machine for a moment and remember the lyrics to John Lennon’s song, “Imagine”.

“Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today…”

Although Lennon was coming at this from a totally different worldview; he saw heaven and hell as fantasies that keep us from living in the “real” world; still these are valid questions for us to consider.  What would my faith look like without the hope of heaven or the threat of hell?  Would I give God my life if He gave nothing back but Himself?  Would I love God and live in relationship with Him if I were simply, “living for today?”

Abraham answered YES in his test with Isaac who was the embodiment of all of God’s promises to him.  My answer…your answer…something to think about.

(Thank you John Walton for the thought provoking concept)