Children of Promise Part II
Grace is God doing for those who have received Christ as their Lord and personal saviour what they cannot do for themselves and what they will never deserve. Our scriptural focus for today states – But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. {Gal 4:29 NLT}
Apostle Paul compares Ishmael’s persecution of Isaac to that of the false teachers opposition of believers and they are doing this because they wanted to mislead Christians into abandoning the way of grace that guarantees the believers place in God’s promises for the law which has become an expression of empty religion. After the birth of Isaac, Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac with a great banquet. On that occasion, Ishmael and his mother Hagar mocked Isaac, laughing derisively at the young boy. Since Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, he assumed he would be the heir to his father’s estate. He thought it was by position but never knew it will be by promise. Ishmael was born in a human attempt to provide solution to God’s promise, because Sarah convinced Abraham to accept a human alternative, while the birth of Isaac was God fulfilling His promise and demonstrating to the world that He is neither slow nor late in keeping His promises to humans.
Sometimes as Christians, we can suffer persecutions in the hands of those whose intention is to shipwreck our faith and derail us from the way of grace. Sometimes they may even want us to believe that God had either forgotten His promises towards us or has changed His mind. Let’s not give in to these lies of the devil, stand firm as a child of promise and believe in the abilities of God to make true His word in your life. Hear God’s assurance to you – God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through. {Num 23:19 NLT}
Persecutions do not come to cancel God’s promises, rather they validate them.
Have a Grace filled day – Good News awaits you.
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Last modified: December 6, 2016
