​John 10: 22 – 39
 
The very existence of Jesus challenges the human capacity towards tolerance; invalidating any vacillation on one’s part, either one loves or hates Him. The Lord Himself was unequivocal in His judgments and instruction, and totally unambiguous on the need for His disciples’ obedience to God (Matt 7:16-23; Matt 10: 38; Matt 16: 24-27; Mark 4: 14-20; Rev 3: 14-16; c.f., Is 29:13). If He were just another teacher of good morals, His present stature would fall in with all the great philosophers of bygone eras, whose writings and pronouncements are rationally debated and passively appraised. But the claims of Christ do not elicit such personal benign detachments since Jesus Christ came to disrupt spiritual passivity within God’s space-time dimension – a continuum that bridges time, as we are familiar with in this world, with a future without end. If we are fully cognizant, our intolerance of cheap grace would alert us to our Lord’s persistent claims on our lives, in view of His own sacrifice at the cross and triumphing over Death. After all, we should only have one Master!
 
Attempts at ameliorating the truth of Jesus’ teachings, no doubt would make Him less objectionable to many, but it diminishes the compelling power of the authentic Christ and His ministry of salvation, restoration, and sanctification. In His encounter with the Jews at the Feast of the Dedication at the Temple in Jerusalem, His assertions to divinity in the context as the Good Shepherd, drew a hostile response, and they attempted to kill Him. The discerning divide was not the fact that He spoke the truth, but that they refused to listen (John 10:22-39, esp., verse 27). The second emphatic characteristic was He knew those who belonged to Him. He knows everything about us, a reflection of the complete transparency between the Father and Son! (John 10: 14-15). However, our fallen human condition motivates us to hide from each other, and at times, from God, particularly with the occurrence of certain negative proceedings that may have disrupted our lives. But a willing transparency is a requirement if we are to love without conditions and be content, for perfect love casts out fears. God has made provisions for us in that respect, to be transparently safe in Christ, and thereby, in community with each other too. There is no fence sitting with the Lord; we either belong to Him or we do not. The gospel compels us into an exclusive relationship with our Lord, where intimacy with God is only possible as we become transparent before God, and therefore, with men as well.
 
Furthermore, the message of the gospel assures us of our security in Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ debunked the requirement for us to exercise our will and intellectual prowess to earn our place in eternity. This unique Christian gospel presents to us the certainty of God’s determination towards our salvation through the atonement of His Son, without any human obligations, except for us to repent of our sins and to trust Him implicitly, (Rom 5: 6-11; Rom 6: 8-11). There is sufficient grace for us to humbly accept who we are and thereby knowing ourselves. It has also provisioned for how God sees us, so that we may embrace what He has done for us. Hence, our security in Christ is resolute (Col 3:3-4). 
 
“And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer29: 13) and “Draw near to God and He will draw close to you” (James 4:8).

​Genesis 11: 10 – 12: 20.
 
The first mention of Abraham was immediately after the Babel incident where Yahweh judged and rejected a rebellious and self-willed humanity, dispersing and confusing their language (Gen 11:7). Following Babel, Terah, Abram’s father, uprooted his family and migrated from the Chaldean city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia to Canaan. For some reason, they settled at Haran (in northwest Mesopotamia; Gen 11:31). When God spoke to Abram to depart from Haran, He inaugurated His special relationship with one individual, promising him that his descendants would be a blessing to the world (Gen 12:1-3). It would be 25 years later before Isaac was born. 
 
It is strange that Abram had no problems recognizing Yahweh’s voice (e.g., he did not even enquire who it was who was speaking to him; (c.f., Joshua 24:2) neither did he question God’s instructions. Abram simply obeyed and prepared to relocate with Lot and all the people and possessions they had acquired (Gen 12:4-5). Humanly speaking, the only basis for such familiarity was a constant human-divine communication, possibly between Terah and Yahweh, which Abram was perhaps privy (c.f., Gen 3:8-11; Gen 4:6-10; Gen 6:13-14, 22). God merely instructed Abram to complete the journey his father had undertaken. It was, in fact, after the wars of the kings that Scripture pinned down the faith of Abram in Yahweh (Gen 15: 6). This was immediately followed by the establishment of God's Covenant with him in a mystical sacrificial extravaganza that proved to Abram God's intention to keep His promises.  Subsequently, His appearances and their conversations carried on uninterrupted with a continued level of mutual awareness (Gen 12:7; Gen 13:14; Gen 13:14-17). Faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8) and its profound growth is dependent on an ongoing relationship with Him. At that point, Abram believed God and trusted Him implicitly to fulfill His promises despite its inexplicable assertion of infertility. God was looking for obedience and He found this in Abram. When he arrived at the oak of Moreh in Shechem, God again assured him of His prior promise, with an additional gift of territory. He then moved into the mountain east of Bethel, built an altar and worshipped the Lord, before journeying on to the Negev (Gen 12:6-9).
 
Venturing literally into an unknown occupied territory was a test of Abram’s faith in overcoming his trepidations and submitting his family’s vulnerability to God. Were these fears the very ones that prompted Terah to remain in Haran? Perhaps his growing obedience laid the groundwork for the seed of faith that was sown by God. For in the generations to come, Abram’s obedience became an exemplary rallying point on countless occasions: for example, encouraging the remnant Babylonian exiles, in Stephen’s defense, in Paul’s justification by faith, and the Hebrew writer’s heroes of faith (c.f., Isaiah 51:2-3; Micah 7:20; Acts 7:2-8; Rom 4; Gal 3:6-14; Heb 11:8-10). 
 
Abram’s fears reflected his humanity, and his choices in subsequent events indicated this initial fragile faith in God. Why did he not trust God to care for his family during the famine in the Negev, since God did not direct him to move his family to Egypt? Further, by positioning his wife, Sarai, as his sister to Pharaoh, and later to King Abimelech in Gerar (Gen Gen 12:10-20; Gen 20), he sought to compromise Sarai in the interest of his own survival. Earlier, he was not afraid of the Canaanites, why would he suddenly be fearful of the Egyptians and the Philistines? Was he attempting to help God in His promised inheritance by preserving his own life? Yet, God was faithful. Yahweh did not chide Abram but redeemed him from his disgraceful cowardice and protected his family (c.f., Psalm 105:42-45). Often, the choices we take signify our motivations, and invariably leaving telltale signs of our faith or lack of it in our God. I surmised that God was surfacing to Abram his own selfish motivations when it came to any exposures of dangers to himself! However, when it came to Yahweh's instruction to him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah, Abraham, according to the narrative in Genesis did not flinch (Gen 22). Isaac was 8 years old and he was 108. I am not so sure Isaac felt the same way! This incident indicated the level of trust that had already developed between Yahweh and Abraham. Despite our changing circumstances, God’s promises will always hold, as He is the I AM! Our nascent faith ought to be based on our conviction in God’s character, which ought to be founded on a consistent personal relationship with Him (Heb 10:23; 1 Thess 5:24). It would be pertinent for us to attempt to emulate Abraham, the father of our faith, in some small aspect (Rom 4: 9 - 11; Gal 3: 6 - 9).