Unwavering Faith? [slip ups]

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“Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own,” Rom. 4:3.

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…without weakening in his faith…he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He promised,” Rom. 4:18-21.
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Imagine a “Who’s Who” list of Bible greats; surely Abraham would have his glossy 5x7 included. As a new Christian I’d camp out in the New Testament and read of his legendary faith. Wow---tall order to try and live up to! Could my faith ever be described as unwavering? Hardly! Despairing I wondered, should I throw in the towel? How could I encourage my boys with an example I knew I couldn’t possibly live up to?

Then I began to study the Old Testament life of Abraham. At first I was confused; was I finding Scriptural contradictions? I was finding some pretty serious screw ups on Abraham’s part. After camping out in these passages and some pretty serious wrestling matches with God, encouragement began to course through my veins.

Abraham was not ALWAYS trusting. There were times in Abraham’s life when clearly he displayed lack of faith. First, he lied and pretended his wife was his sister, not once, but twice, for fear he’d be murdered so his beautiful wife would be up for grabs. Secondly, Abraham did not trust that God would provide the promised descendant through he and his aged wife, so he took matters into his own hands. He took a concubine to conceive the heir that God had promised but was taking too long (by his thinking) to deliver.

So, why was I encouraged by all this?! Despite Abraham’s moments of clearly recorded lack of faith that God would provide and protect, he is still counted as righteous (holy and pure) because of his belief and faith in God. God did not discount a life time of following Him because Abraham screwed up, at times, in some pretty gigantic ways. This is why encouragement coursed through my mildly (ok moderately) ‘Type A’ veins and this is why I am so grateful that our loving God included the whole story, not just the parts where everyone gets it all right. God takes note of my sin but does not define me by my lack of faith or sin. My screw ups do not take center stage as God views my life; my love for Him does.

This was of great encouragement for my boys too, who feel the weight of their bad decisions just as much as adults do. We thanked God for seeing us in light of His grace and not counting every sin of faithlessness as a reason to write us out of His story. We thanked Him for telling the whole story and not just the part that would make it into a Christmas letter! We asked Him to use our lives to help other people know Him more, our mess ups and all!

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“If we admit our sins---make a clean breast of them---He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing,” 1 John 1:10.
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