Preparing for Easter: Breaking Free From Our IdolsSample

Abraham's story begins with one of the most remarkable acts of faith recorded in Scripture. God appeared to him and essentially said, "Leave everything familiar - your homeland, your relatives, your father's house - and go to a land I will show you."

No GPS coordinates. No detailed itinerary. Just a call to follow.

Even more remarkably, Abraham went! Genesis 12:4 states, "So Abram went, as the LORD had told him." He packed his belongings, gathered his household, and journeyed from Ur (near modern-day Baghdad in southern Iraq) toward the land of Canaan.

Along the way, God made Abraham a Promise: "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... all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Later, in Genesis 15, God specified that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

For most of us, such a Promise would be thrilling. However, it also presented a significant problem for Abraham: he and his wife, Sarah, were childless. And not just temporarily childless - they were well beyond typical childbearing years. As decade after decade passed without a child, Abraham faced a question that many of us confront in different forms: what do you do when God's Promise seems impossible?

Abraham tried several approaches. He thought perhaps his servant Eliezer would be his heir. Later, at Sarah's suggestion, he fathered a child with her servant Hagar - a son named Ishmael. But God clarified that neither solution fulfilled His Promise. The son of Promise would come through Sarah.

This is where many of us find ourselves - caught between God's Promises and our current reality. In that gap, something dangerous can happen. The very thing God promises can gradually become an idol in our lives.

I've experienced this myself. Early in ministry, God gave me a vision for serving His Church. That vision was good - a Gift from God. But I began measuring my worth by ministerial accomplishments somewhere along the way. Sunday attendance, baptism numbers, and program growth became my focus. When the numbers increased, I felt validated. When they declined, I felt like a failure.

What began as a genuine Calling from God had subtly transformed into an idol I looked to for my identity and worth. My interpretation of the Promise had become more significant than the Promise-Giver's Interpretation.

Abraham waited 25 years for God to fulfill His Promise. That's difficult for me to comprehend! During that long wait, it would have been easy for the Promise itself to replace the God who made it.

Here's a challenging question for personal reflection: What Promise from God has become more important to you than God Himself? It could be a promise of provision, healing, restoration, or direction. All are good things! But have those promises become the Primary Source of your Hope?

Tomorrow, we'll explore what happened when God finally fulfilled His Promise to Abraham and Sarah - and how that long-awaited gift tested Abraham's faith in ways he never anticipated.