Week of 12/9-12/15: Foundation - The Covenant

Day Three: Gen. 17:1-14 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell to the ground, and God spoke with him: “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the [God] of your offspring after you.

Finish the story by reading 8-14 in your Bible.

“ACT LIKE YOU’VE BEEN THERE BEFORE!”

That phrase was constantly pounded into the players’ heads by the coaches of my high school football team. The idea behind the phrase is that when someone scores a touchdown, that player simply hands the football back to the official and immediately lines up for the extra point. The alternative, which is often seen, is a grand touchdown celebration, which includes any of the following: spiking the ball, jumping into the arms of teammates, dancing, etc.

The idea behind this mantra is that if you are used to scoring touchdowns, then it shouldn’t be a grand spectacle. If the player “acts like he’s been there before,” he is going to have a very different attitude than the majority of the players who step into the end zone.

The continuous preaching of the concept set our team apart from those that we played. We had an ongoing reputation of being a very good football program that always had a level of respect and class that other teams didn’t posses. If you were going to be a contributing member of our team, you had to be set apart from the attitudes and actions of a typical football program.

Being a follower of Christ takes a bigger, more radical commitment than this. In this passage we see God tell Abram to “live in (His) presence and be devout.” That means we are to be set apart from the world for the sake of God’s glory. Our lives should not look like the world, but should radiate the glory of God!

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷Why does God desire us to be different from the world?

▷▷What motivates us to live different than the world?

▷▷How do we ensure that we live different than the world?