A Blessing to All Families

By Danny Saavedra

“Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.” – Galatians 3:7 (NIV)

Abraham is called the father of faith, the patriarch of Israel. James 2:23 (NLT) says, “’Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.’ He was even called the friend of God.” 

It all started in Genesis 12. Here, God instructs Abraham to pack up and leave his home and all his comforts behind, to uproot his family and travel to a foreign land. In fact, Abraham wasn’t even told which land. God told him to “go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1 NLT). But along with this colossal call came a promise: “I will make you into a great nation . . . All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3 NLT).

At 75 years old, Abram answers this call and heads out with his family. The interesting thing about God’s promise was that Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children. How would God make a great nation out of a childless old man and his wife? Well, Abraham wondered the same thing! So, God revealed His plan and told Abraham that he would have a child, and that eventually his descendants would outnumber the stars! And guess what? Despite the odds, despite the logic and circumstances, Abraham believed God! And it was at that moment that God counted Abraham as righteous.

Later in Genesis 15, God seals His promise to Abraham by making a covenant. God was originally going to make this pact with Abraham through a sacrifice. But before this could happen, God caused Abraham to fall asleep, and as he awoke, he “saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day . . .” (Genesis 15:17-18 NLT). The covenant was made without Abraham because it wasn’t dependent on him or on his descendants, but on God alone.

You see, the story of Abraham teaches us our role in God’s plan of salvation. It’s not work, but worship. In Genesis 12, Abraham received the promise by faith. And immediately after that he built an altar, a place of worship. Why? Because he understood very clearly that neither his right standing with God nor the promises God made to him were dependent on who he was or what he did, but on his faith and God’s faithfulness. 

As you go through your day today, remember there is power in worshiping God for all He is and the strength He gives you. As we see with Abraham, it’s not about what we can do, but what He’s done. So worship Him, because “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ . . . And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26–27, 29 NKJV).

As believers, saved by amazing grace, we belong to Jesus—the Seed of Abraham, the One who came to fulfill the promise made by God. That means that, by faith, just like Abraham, we have become heirs, sons and daughters, members of God’s family, part of the promise. That’s the beauty of the Christmas story. It was all done so that we could be grafted into the line of Abraham and become part of Jesus’ family tree! God did all the work. All we have to do is receive His gift.