Faith On Friday

Today's Faith on Friday post will be short. (Do I hear a collective sigh of relief? lol) Friday just happens to be the birthday of my favorite 7 yo... naturally pictures are to follow! :o)

This week's lessons on Abram focused on his rescue of Lot when Sodom was attacked (Genesis 14) and Abram's subsequent meeting with the King of Melchizedek. Now this chapter gets into some deep theology that I will not even begin to tackle regarding the identity and significance of Melchizedek. Some say he is a foreshadowing of Christ, others say that he is Christ. What we do know is that Christ was a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Abram obviously loved Lot to take his men and go after the powerful kings who had taken him and his family. That we know of, Lot had not shown much thanks or allegiance to Abram and had become an inhabitant of the evil Sodom. And the King of Sodom approached Abram in a slinky, used car salesman kind of a way, as if he had any standing to make an agreement with Abram after Abram rescued all his people and their belongings.

Melchizedek on the other hand came to Abram as the Priest of the Most High God and blessed him. Abram tithed 10% of his "loot" to Melchizedek as God's Priest, long before the Mosaic law gave instructions on how to do this. Our sermon compared and contrasted Melchizedek which means "The King of Righteousness" to Bera, the King of Sodom whose name means "Be Evil." During our class on Tuesday we discussed Lot and Abram's rescue of him and what it is like to love someone who makes poor choices in their life. This struck home for me and tears sprang to my eyes easily. There are many in my Dad's family who are in desperate situations, some of their own creation, unwilling to change or help themselves. It's pretty hard to love someone who chooses ugliness and evil. But it's hard not to love them when you know they need His saving Love!

I will leave you with some application taken straight from Pastor Mike's sermon on Sunday.

1. Don't be indebted to the world. Do not flirt with the world like Lot did. First he pitched his tent near Sodom, then he was in Sodom.

2. God will lead us in victory! 1 John 5:3-5 Everyone born of God overcomes the world. We may not be able to do it ourselves, but He can. Abram only had a few more than 300 to face the armies of several kings, but God gave him the victory! (Victory in Jesus! My Savior forever!)

3. Worshipping God with a tenth of our material goods is an enduring principle in the Bible. Tithing happened before the Law and is an act of worship, not an obligation or a chain of legalism. It thanks Him for His blessings. (And it all belongs to Him anyway!)