Good morning everyone,

Hebrews 11:17 -By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,

In reference to a faith that pleases God, the writer in Hebrews 11 gives us the definition of faith and then biblical examples of how faith was used in their context. I chose the above scripture to show that Abraham the "father of faith" understood that faith is believing that obedience to God has a better reward than having his "promised child" Isaac.

Abraham loved his blessing, but he didn’t love it more than God. If we believe "every good and perfect thing comes down from above from the Father…."(James 1:17), then we would recognize that God is source of all our good things; family, provisions, health, etc. Abraham knew this, "so if God is calling me to sacrifice my promised son I trust that He is not a liar, so I trust that what He is calling me to do is the only good option, and is rewarding!" Are you growing to trust God like that?

Christian faith should always benefit others, because that is rooted in the gospel. Abraham was comitted to sacrifice his promised son, that ended up benefiting us eventually in Jesus Christ. Abraham didn’t love his blessings more than God, which freed him to sacrifice so other people could be blessed. True faith will eventually see that the reward in sacrificial obedience to God, is much greater than holding onto what may have been a blessing. At every level of Chrisitain growth, God calls us to sacrifice for Him and His purpose by faith to benefit other people.

In His Love, Ld