Amid our routines and calendars, it can be so easy to dismiss the things that God wants to do in our everyday lives. Our natural tendency is to put our desires for comfortability and control over complete obedience to God. In these verses, we see God telling Abram to leave behind familiarity; to leave the place he has known, and to step into something greater that God had for him. When God told Abram to go away from his own country, He didn’t give him a 5-year plan. But God did give Abram the next step, and declared that He had good plans not only for Abram, but to bless all the families of the earth. Just like with Abram, we can trust that even when the Lord doesn’t give us the exact details of His plan, He has a good plan for our lives. We can trust that our obedience to God’s commandments will ultimately bring blessings to others, and glory to His name. When God tells us to walk away from comfortability, our flesh desires to give partial obedience rather than full obedience. We tend to hold onto the things that we believe will make our lives easier, more comfortable, and curated to our own desires.
But I believe that Jesus is asking us to lay aside half-hearted obedience. I believe He’s asking for our full attention for the sake of the Gospel and serving others. As we go about our day today, I encourage us to ask ourselves if we are willing to leave behind what is comfortable for the sake of full obedience. Are we willing to walk away from familiarity if it means we get to become more like Jesus? The greatest gift we receive when we choose to obey God is God himself. Let’s lay aside our comfortability, and obey God with everything we have today.