The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; (1)
My Bible readings took me to Genesis again. And again, I encountered the story of Abraham and his faithful obedience to God’s initiative. He left everything behind to go to a place he had never been before.
Recently I have been thinking that that could also be one way to think of our transition from this life to the next. This is also a journey that requires that we leave everything behind to go to a place we have never been before. The only security we have in this transition is also the only security Abraham had — God and His promises.
Abraham’s response of faithful obedience has become the biblical example of faith and what happens to those who trust and obey the Lord. The sheer humanity of Abraham and his ups and downs in his journey of obedience only serve to highlight the loving grace of God in response to mustard-seed faith.
I cited the Abraham story as one way to think of our leaving this life for the next in a talk I gave to a Seniors Fellowship group yesterday. I feel that the church continues to avoid talking about death. We are nowhere near the confidence of Paul who says:
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (2)
When will we have the faith of Paul who sees death as gain? We have one key advantage over Abraham. We have someone who actually went to the other side and came back to show us the way. I really like this line from the Anglican Communion liturgy:
“Father of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home.”
I fear the church today is too focused on this life. This does not prepare us to think and feel properly about the life to come. A day will come, when like Abraham, we must leave everything behind and go. Let us be clear that this is the journey that leads to life that is really life.
(1) Genesis 12:1–4a NIV
(2) Philippians 1:21–24 NIV