What it takes to be a Hall of Famer

Read this post after you've read the previous two. That way, it will make the most sense. Rather than one super-long post, I broke it into three. Each will kind of work on its own, but not as well.--JEO

In Genesis 15, both men and women can identify with Abram's [his name had not yet been changed] frustration with God. After receiving a call to leave his family and home, change everything in his life, for which he was supposed to become a great nation and a blessing to the earth, nothing was happening. He was 75 when he was called, so this was some time up to 10 years after that. In the next chapter, it's mentioned that 10 years have passed--that's how we know the time-frame.

Abram had a conversational relationship with God to speak honestly. He said what he really thought, and it's not pretty here. But God, who already knew what he was thinking, let him say it, and then gave him a promise and blew his socks off (theological term). Abram, with his heart open and his socks off, believed God, and became a faith Hall of Famer as an ordinary person.

Why do I call him a Hall of Famer? Because he's in Hebrews 11 for this very act of belief. Hebrews 11 is considered by some to be the faith Hall of Fame. I've thought for a long time that Hebrews 11 is filled with people who are actually ordinary and weak at times, and shown by God to be ordinary so we can see that God considers our faith to be just as real and tough and important as theirs. That we are also in his ongoing Hall of Fame for our wrestling with decisions to believe him or not.

The Lord: "Don't be fearful, Abram, for I will defend you. And I will give you great blessings."

But Abram replied, "O Lord, what good are all your blessings when I have no son? For without a son some other member of my household will inherit all my wealth."

Then the Lord told him, "No, no one else will be your heir, for you will have a son to inherit everything you own."

Then God brough Abram outside beneath the nighttime sky and told him, "Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that--too many to count!" And Abram believed God; then God considered him righteous on account of his faith.

Genesis 15:1-6

Abram simply believed God that he would have a child and it changed the course of history.

Of course it was the biggest thing in his life, and the hardest to do. What do you have to believe God about today?