15

15 “He (Abraham) lived as a foreigner in Gerar.”

 Genesis 20:1

Gerar was a godless Philistine city which skirted the desert and provided refreshment for travellers. Abraham found himself there but he did not settle nor give his allegiance to it. It was not part of the earthly inheritance promised to Abraham.

We also have an inheritance from God as His elect people. We have all our citizenship in the heavenly country which is the New Jerusalem. We must not settle or put down roots in this world, for we are not of it. Abraham kept his life separate from the world and lived in faith towards God. He did not depend on the world to sustain him but rested his hope in the Lord. So also, we must not let this world infiltrate our thinking and doing but remain faithful to our Lord and God.

 Let us keep this world out of our life and separate ourselves from ungodly living and finding our satisfaction in the things of this life. Let us devote our days to the Lord and His Word and follow in the footsteps of our Saviour Jesus who left all for our sake. May the enticements of this present life sit lightly on us as we think of our heavenly inheritance. Our reality is more than the inheritance of the worlding which is only sin and death. We have been freed from all that.

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

 Galatians 5:1