Fully Convinced

Hey, everybody! It’s OK to come out from under your rock – we’re not in trouble anymore! Whew! Romans Ch. 4 is a breath of fresh air! I mean, who’s a little tired of getting their toes stepped on? Me!

And who better to discuss in this chapter than the Father of our Faith himself, Abraham. What can you say about Abraham that hasn’t already been said? He was a man of faith and a man who put action to his faith. In fact, you don’t have to look past Romans 4:3 to find out what God Himself thought of Abraham,

For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.

And, that’s right when my toes started hurting again.

Abraham believed God.

Just a little 3-word-sentence that sounds so simple, but, truthfully, it’s a sentence that stops me in my tracks. All it took for God to count Abraham as righteous was for Abraham to believe Him. Easily done, right?

The truth is that Abraham was ninety-nine years old when God first spoke to him. Ninety-nine, people. And the interesting thing about it is that Abraham, or Abram as he started out, was a Chaldean. Chaldea was in southern Babylon in ancient times, modern day southern Iraq. If you were with us last semester for our study of Daniel, you’ll most likely remember that the Babylonians had many gods – little g. At the time of Israel’s exile, the Babylonians didn’t know the One, True God at all.

So just think about what it meant for Abram to actually believe God:

You’re ninety-nine years old, wealthy and used to worshiping numerous gods. Then one day this new God speaks to you and says He wants to make a deal with you where you will be the father of many nations; and all you have to do is leave your land, all your possessions and go to a land that I’ll tell you about later. Oh, and you don’t have ANY CHILDREN at the time!

A little different perspective on what it actually meant for Abram to believe God, huh? When I put myself in Abram’s shoes, I realize this was no easy task, but he did it. Whatever that conversation with God was like, Abram believed God and believed what God said was true and would really happen. That’s pretty amazing to me.

So most of us know the rest of Abram’s story – God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah; God made a covenant with Abraham, although Abraham was asleep for most of it, so God actually completed BOTH sides of the covenant Himself; Abraham agreed to be circumcised AFTER believing God, as a sign of his covenant with Him; Sarah did become pregnant in her old age and gave birth to Isaac - but only after Abraham and Sarah tried their hands at fulfilling God’s promises their way; God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac on an altar several years later – only to rescue him at the last moment. All of the promises God made to Abraham came true – all of them! He regained his wealth in a new land and he did have a son and become the father of many nations! Now, it didn’t happen immediately and, as I said before, there were a few bumps in the road, but this story is circular, meaning we end where we began:

For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Abraham believed God.

Now let’s just get real for a minute; faith and believing are words we use a lot at church and in Christian circles. I mean, if you ask me today if I believe God or have faith in God, I will answer with a resounding “Yes! I do!” And, look, I mean it. I have big faith in God, I believe Him – what He says, how He feels about me, what He says He’s going to do, etc. – until I don’t believe. Because the truth is, I’m not sure I have the faith and belief in God that Abraham did. I want to, more than anything, I want to, but, Friends, that kind of faith is crazy hard! Sometimes, when I’m facing something really hard in my life, my faith gets a little weak and doubt sets in. Ever been there? I wonder if Abraham had those days when he looked at Sarah, walking with her cane to get water from the well and thought,

“There’s no way she’s having a baby at her age!”

But even on those days, Abraham kept on believing. Then we see an even greater description of Abraham’s faith in verse 21:

He [Abraham] was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises.

Fully convinced.

How are you at being fully convinced about something, anything? I guess I’m fully convinced that day after day, the sun is going to rise, then it will set and the moon will rise; I’m fully convinced that I’m going to be hungry every few hours. But those are things that are going to happen no matter what I do.

Abraham had to make a choice to be fully convinced that what God told him was true, even though it was unknown and nothing he could see around him would indicate God’s words were true.

Abraham made the choice to be fully convinced.

The word believe in Romans 4:3 in the Greek is pisteuo; it means to believe, have faith in or, my favorite, with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord.

The word believe in verse 21 in the Greek is plerophoreo: it means to bring in full measure, to fulfill, to carry out fully, to accomplish.

The bottom line is that Abraham’s belief in God wasn’t just lip service; he truly believed, way deep down in his soul, that all God had said and promised would be accomplished and carried out fully. This same chapter tells us that Abraham never wavered in his faith! Wow!

So, how did he do it? How did Abraham, a man, made of flesh and blood, believe an unseen God he didn’t really know, would fully accomplish what He said He would in Abraham’s life? How did his faith never waver?

Two things come to mind:

1. I believe the encounter Abram had in Chaldea with the One, True God, changed him. However exactly God revealed Himself to Abram was convincing and that revelation changed the motivations, the priorities and actual course of his life. And, Friend, God has done that for me and will do the same thing for you! Experience Him, seek Him, embrace Him – you will be forever changed!

2. I believe that, on those days where he wondered if he’d even be able to lift an infant, let alone raise a son, Abraham recalled God’s promises to him. He mulled them over and over in his mind, he considered them, meditated on them and guess what? His outlook and faith were renewed. Again, it’s the same for us: we have God’s very words in a book we call the Bible; read it, consider it, mull it over and meditate on it and I promise you, your faith will be renewed. And, that right there is what Bible Nerds is all about! It’s why we’re all here, to delve into God’s word and dig up some hidden treasure there, just waiting to be found.

So, how about your faith today; how about mine? Are we fully convinced about our God today? Are we fully convinced that He is good and has good planned for us? Are we fully convinced that all the things He’s promised us will come to pass? Do we need to take some time today to consider His words and renew our faith?

I, for one, say yes! I so badly want to honor God and be counted as righteous because of my faith! I want to live a life that screams “fully convinced” for Him! How about you?