Present & Future Blessing
Genesis 13:1-18
Mark took his 8-year-old son sledding on a mountainside in West Virginia. It was a long, open space with a rolling slope perfect for sledding. Though it was off the beaten path, others had sledded there before them, so it seemed safe.
Mark placed his son on an inflatable sledding tube, then pushed him down the slope. After about 20 seconds of watching his son slide happily down the hillside, the smiles turned to panic when the tube, rather than stopping where the other sled tracks had ended, continued full speed onto a fresh part of the slope the veered leftward into the mountain tree line. Where did that trail lead? Mark had no clue, as his son sped quickly out of sight.
About ten to fifteen minutes later, after a long, arduous hike on foot, Mark found his son’s inflatable tube resting in some leafless bushes only feet away from a steep cliff. Thankfully, his son was okay. As Mark returned home, he was relieved that his son had survived the adventure, vowing to scout out all future terrain in the future before sledding.
Have you ever made an ill-advised decision that could have ended terribly but you survived instead? That’s what Abram did in Gen 12 when he went down to Egypt during a famine, placing his wife and marriage at risk. Thankfully, God spared him from tragedy, and Abram returned safely to Palestine, even wealthier than before. But more than wealth, he had increased most importantly in spiritual maturity, learning to trust God by faith with greater confidence and peace than before.
Today, let’s see how Abram had grown in his faith, as evidenced by his response to another difficult conflict. This conflict was not a “life and death” challenge, like the previous one, but was a relationship challenge. And let’s face it, it’s probably relationship conflicts that challenge our faith far more than life-and-death scenarios do.
By Abram’s response to this particular challenge, we can see how we also should let the faithfulness of God change the way we respond to relationship struggles in our lives, today, especially in family and church relationships.
Abram’s faith in God made reconciliation possible.
So, what was the problem? Gen 13:1-7 explains. Abram and Lot had become quite successful, materially and financially, so much so that their families and hired workers were arguing over available resources due to their growing herds, diminished grazing resources, and the presence of Canaanites and Perizzites (people groups who had already settled in the land). How would you respond to this situation if you were Abram?
Rather than exercise the privilege of seniority, insisting that he receive the better fields, Abram took a more selfless position, seek restoration rather than personal success. Abram pursued reconciliation. But why did he do so, when it seemed as though it wouldn’t benefit him and as though he would end up with the least beneficial outcome?
In this scenario, Abram distinguished himself from how normal kings and rulers – people in power – behave. As the prophet Samuel told the nation of Israel, their future kings would “take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves” (1 Sam 8:14).
But because Abram believed that God would be faithful to his promise (to give him the land and a nation), he was able to pursue peace at any cost. When faced with disputes and strife, he believed God’s promise to bless, care for, and defend him. Therefore, he was free from feeling the need to assert or defend himself. He was able to put the other party first and take the lower seat, the weaker position for the sake of peace.
When a person asserts him- or herself in a dispute and insists upon receiving the better, preferential treatment, that person often reveals that they view themselves and their problem more largely than they view God. To them, they and their problem is big and God is small. But to someone like Abram, God is big and the person and problem is small. For this reason, we are able to take the lower seat, the back of the line, the disadvantaged position in order to make peace and reconciliation possible. Why? Because we know that God is watching out for us and we do not need to assert ourselves.
This is counterintuitive and not at all the way that our modern society teaches us to approach conflict. But that’s because our modern society doesn’t rest in the promises of a faithful God who they know will bless and defend them. From Abram’s example here, we see how we should let the faithfulness of God change the way we respond to relationship struggles in our lives, today, especially in family and church relationships.
Lot chose short-term success over long-term blessing.
So, how did the other party – Lot – respond to this conflict? He chose a “win now, lose later” strategy. We read about his choice in Gen 13:8-13.
In American football terms, if Lot had won the coin flip, he would have chosen to receive the ball to start the game rather than to kick it. Or he would have chosen to “go for it” on fourth down in the 1st quarter rather than punt and get better field position later. When given the choice, he chose the land which offered the best food and water for his flocks, leaving Abram to take land which was less beneficial.
The land Lot chose was near the city of Sodom. This city, with the smaller allied cities which surrounded it, was a key hub and thriving center at that time. Gen 19 says Lot would eventually move inside the city and take up a prominent government role there. So, he would not only become very involved with the affairs and people of the city, but he would be accepted and respected by them enough to be made a government official.
The problem, here, is that the city was known for its especially evil behavior, which included rampant homosexuality, normalized abuse, and more. As Gen 13:13 says, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.” God would eventually destroy these cities in a dramatic, fiery way, raining down fire and sulfur from the sky, turning this fertile land into a desolate wasteland. Christ himself would refer to this historic judgment centuries later during his earthly ministry as an example of how God views such sins (Lk 17:28-30; 2 Pet 2:6-9).
As a result of his time there, Lot would eventually lose his wife and some of his children and their families, and would experience terrible, shameful things with his two remaining daughters. Of Lot himself, Peter says:
Lot … was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
So, from Lot’s choice, we see that he valued immediate gratification, satisfaction, and success. But such a choice, though it benefited him materially and immediately, eventually led to sad and painful outcomes. Scripture clearly warns against this kind of temporal, self-centered, success-driven approach and mindset.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. (Prov 21:5)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:10)
But Abram took a different approach than Lot did.
Abram chose long-term blessing over short-term success.
In other words, Abram chose a “lose now, win later” strategy, the opposite of Lot’s choice. We read about Abram’s choice and its outcome in Gen 13:14-18.
In American football terms, if Abram had won the coin flip, he would have chosen to kick the ball to start the game rather than to receive it. Or he would have chosen to punt in the first quarter for better field position later rather than “go for it” on fourth down.
He moved further to the south and west, not settling down like Lot but continuing a nomadic lifestyle, in less fertile land and without the settled, established acceptance of people around him.
Though it seemed as though Abram had gotten the short end of the stick, God spoke to him afterwards, reaffirming his promise to him, and thereby justifying and affirming his selfless, faith-driven response to conflict.
God affirmed to Abram that he would indeed give to his descendants ALL the land in that area – which would include the land he was wandering around in, the land Lot had taken, the land of Sodom and its surrounding cities, the land of the Canaanites and Perizzites, and more.
This promise would be fulfilled to his descendants, however, and not to him directly or immediately. To this very day, this promise of land to Abram’s descendants has not yet been fulfilled completely.
Abram’s descendants, Israel, would inhabit the land through the eventual leadership of Joshua after the descendants of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, had first spent 400 years in Egypt, many of those years as slaves. They would then inhabit the most of their land under the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, but since then, they have inhabited less or none of this land at various times in history. Today, Israel inhabits some of this land but still not all the land that God promised to Abram. As Scripture explains later on, this land would span from the Nile River (Egypt) to the Mesopotamian River (Iraq) (Gen 15:18-21):
the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
So, what are we to make of this promise? As the NT book of Hebrews explains:
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Heb 11:9-10)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:13)
From this, as with Abram, we see that we should make choices – including key relationship and reconciliation choices – based not upon what is expedient for the moment, whether materially, relationally, or selfishly, but based upon the timeless character and nature of God and upon the teaching and promises of God’s Word about future realities which will come to pass.
As followers of Christ, we must pursue peace over personal interests.
According to Heb 12:14, we must “pursue peace with all people …” To “pursue” means to “press forward, strive towards, run after, to pursue in the direction of [something].” And this direction is not personal success but rather “peace with all people.” Peace, here, refers to relationship peace, meaning the resolution of disputes, divisions, and offenses between you and people. And with what people, all who are at odds with you.
To do so does not guarantee you will succeed at achieving peace and reconciliation, but it does make clear your responsibility to give every possible, honest attempt at doing so. We should not refrain from doing so, refuse to do so, avoid doing so, or simply wait for the other side to do so. Consider how Christ explains this mindset of taking responsibility to pursue peace rather than assuming an passive position instead (Matt 5:23-24):
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
As followers of Christ, we have not only the example of Abram’s faith in action here, seeking reconciliation with Lot at personal cost, but we have the ultimate example of Christ himself – Abram’s eventual descendant and the very Son of God – doing this for us when he died upon the cross for our sins (2 Cor 5:18-19):
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
As followers of Christ, we must value long-term blessing over short-term success.
We must also, like Abram, make choices that accept the possibility of short-term loss for long-term success. We must we willing to lose comfort, reputation, wealth, and even relationships now for the ultimate exchange of all these things and more in eternity, in the New Creation that lasts forever, in God’s everlasting, never-ending kingdom.
Consider what Christ promised to his first followers (Matt 19:30):
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Like Abram, we must be totally okay with – and even in some cases fully expecting – receiving deferred blessing and rewards from God.
In both these examples, however, there is an element of chance and risk involved, for due to various uncontrollable factors, it is always possible that a new business will not succeed or that a working person’s retirement investments will not pan out.
This is not so with God. What God promises, he always does, if not immediately then in the future, in eternity. And only when we are deeply convinced of this reality are we able to make choices in this life – esp. with regards to relationships and reconciliation – that for the sake of peace call for short-term losses in exchange for long-term success.
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matt 19:30)
As we reflect on the losses and setbacks to which Christ may call us in our pursuit of peace between people and between people and God, may we reflect even more deeply and with far greater appreciation upon the ultimate loss which Christ suffered upon the cross in exchange for the ultimate reconciliation in the future, the salvation of mankind and the restoration of God’s creation and kingdom forever.
Discussion Questions
Life101/Digging Deeper
Mark took his 8-year-old son sledding on a mountainside in West Virginia. It was a long, open space with a rolling slope perfect for sledding. Though it was off the beaten path, others had sledded there before them, so it seemed safe.
Mark placed his son on an inflatable sledding tube, then pushed him down the slope. After about 20 seconds of watching his son slide happily down the hillside, the smiles turned to panic when the tube, rather than stopping where the other sled tracks had ended, continued full speed onto a fresh part of the slope the veered leftward into the mountain tree line. Where did that trail lead? Mark had no clue, as his son sped quickly out of sight.
About ten to fifteen minutes later, after a long, arduous hike on foot, Mark found his son’s inflatable tube resting in some leafless bushes only feet away from a steep cliff. Thankfully, his son was okay. As Mark returned home, he was relieved that his son had survived the adventure, vowing to scout out all future terrain in the future before sledding.
Have you ever made an ill-advised decision that could have ended terribly but you survived instead? That’s what Abram did in Gen 12 when he went down to Egypt during a famine, placing his wife and marriage at risk. Thankfully, God spared him from tragedy, and Abram returned safely to Palestine, even wealthier than before. But more than wealth, he had increased most importantly in spiritual maturity, learning to trust God by faith with greater confidence and peace than before.
Today, let’s see how Abram had grown in his faith, as evidenced by his response to another difficult conflict. This conflict was not a “life and death” challenge, like the previous one, but was a relationship challenge. And let’s face it, it’s probably relationship conflicts that challenge our faith far more than life-and-death scenarios do.
By Abram’s response to this particular challenge, we can see how we also should let the faithfulness of God change the way we respond to relationship struggles in our lives, today, especially in family and church relationships.
Abram’s faith in God made reconciliation possible.
So, what was the problem? Gen 13:1-7 explains. Abram and Lot had become quite successful, materially and financially, so much so that their families and hired workers were arguing over available resources due to their growing herds, diminished grazing resources, and the presence of Canaanites and Perizzites (people groups who had already settled in the land). How would you respond to this situation if you were Abram?
Rather than exercise the privilege of seniority, insisting that he receive the better fields, Abram took a more selfless position, seek restoration rather than personal success. Abram pursued reconciliation. But why did he do so, when it seemed as though it wouldn’t benefit him and as though he would end up with the least beneficial outcome?
In this scenario, Abram distinguished himself from how normal kings and rulers – people in power – behave. As the prophet Samuel told the nation of Israel, their future kings would “take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves” (1 Sam 8:14).
But because Abram believed that God would be faithful to his promise (to give him the land and a nation), he was able to pursue peace at any cost. When faced with disputes and strife, he believed God’s promise to bless, care for, and defend him. Therefore, he was free from feeling the need to assert or defend himself. He was able to put the other party first and take the lower seat, the weaker position for the sake of peace.
When a person asserts him- or herself in a dispute and insists upon receiving the better, preferential treatment, that person often reveals that they view themselves and their problem more largely than they view God. To them, they and their problem is big and God is small. But to someone like Abram, God is big and the person and problem is small. For this reason, we are able to take the lower seat, the back of the line, the disadvantaged position in order to make peace and reconciliation possible. Why? Because we know that God is watching out for us and we do not need to assert ourselves.
This is counterintuitive and not at all the way that our modern society teaches us to approach conflict. But that’s because our modern society doesn’t rest in the promises of a faithful God who they know will bless and defend them. From Abram’s example here, we see how we should let the faithfulness of God change the way we respond to relationship struggles in our lives, today, especially in family and church relationships.
Lot chose short-term success over long-term blessing.
So, how did the other party – Lot – respond to this conflict? He chose a “win now, lose later” strategy. We read about his choice in Gen 13:8-13.
In American football terms, if Lot had won the coin flip, he would have chosen to receive the ball to start the game rather than to kick it. Or he would have chosen to “go for it” on fourth down in the 1st quarter rather than punt and get better field position later. When given the choice, he chose the land which offered the best food and water for his flocks, leaving Abram to take land which was less beneficial.
The land Lot chose was near the city of Sodom. This city, with the smaller allied cities which surrounded it, was a key hub and thriving center at that time. Gen 19 says Lot would eventually move inside the city and take up a prominent government role there. So, he would not only become very involved with the affairs and people of the city, but he would be accepted and respected by them enough to be made a government official.
The problem, here, is that the city was known for its especially evil behavior, which included rampant homosexuality, normalized abuse, and more. As Gen 13:13 says, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.” God would eventually destroy these cities in a dramatic, fiery way, raining down fire and sulfur from the sky, turning this fertile land into a desolate wasteland. Christ himself would refer to this historic judgment centuries later during his earthly ministry as an example of how God views such sins (Lk 17:28-30; 2 Pet 2:6-9).
As a result of his time there, Lot would eventually lose his wife and some of his children and their families, and would experience terrible, shameful things with his two remaining daughters. Of Lot himself, Peter says:
Lot … was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
So, from Lot’s choice, we see that he valued immediate gratification, satisfaction, and success. But such a choice, though it benefited him materially and immediately, eventually led to sad and painful outcomes. Scripture clearly warns against this kind of temporal, self-centered, success-driven approach and mindset.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. (Prov 21:5)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:10)
But Abram took a different approach than Lot did.
Abram chose long-term blessing over short-term success.
In other words, Abram chose a “lose now, win later” strategy, the opposite of Lot’s choice. We read about Abram’s choice and its outcome in Gen 13:14-18.
In American football terms, if Abram had won the coin flip, he would have chosen to kick the ball to start the game rather than to receive it. Or he would have chosen to punt in the first quarter for better field position later rather than “go for it” on fourth down.
He moved further to the south and west, not settling down like Lot but continuing a nomadic lifestyle, in less fertile land and without the settled, established acceptance of people around him.
Though it seemed as though Abram had gotten the short end of the stick, God spoke to him afterwards, reaffirming his promise to him, and thereby justifying and affirming his selfless, faith-driven response to conflict.
God affirmed to Abram that he would indeed give to his descendants ALL the land in that area – which would include the land he was wandering around in, the land Lot had taken, the land of Sodom and its surrounding cities, the land of the Canaanites and Perizzites, and more.
This promise would be fulfilled to his descendants, however, and not to him directly or immediately. To this very day, this promise of land to Abram’s descendants has not yet been fulfilled completely.
Abram’s descendants, Israel, would inhabit the land through the eventual leadership of Joshua after the descendants of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, had first spent 400 years in Egypt, many of those years as slaves. They would then inhabit the most of their land under the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, but since then, they have inhabited less or none of this land at various times in history. Today, Israel inhabits some of this land but still not all the land that God promised to Abram. As Scripture explains later on, this land would span from the Nile River (Egypt) to the Mesopotamian River (Iraq) (Gen 15:18-21):
the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
So, what are we to make of this promise? As the NT book of Hebrews explains:
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Heb 11:9-10)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:13)
From this, as with Abram, we see that we should make choices – including key relationship and reconciliation choices – based not upon what is expedient for the moment, whether materially, relationally, or selfishly, but based upon the timeless character and nature of God and upon the teaching and promises of God’s Word about future realities which will come to pass.
As followers of Christ, we must pursue peace over personal interests.
According to Heb 12:14, we must “pursue peace with all people …” To “pursue” means to “press forward, strive towards, run after, to pursue in the direction of [something].” And this direction is not personal success but rather “peace with all people.” Peace, here, refers to relationship peace, meaning the resolution of disputes, divisions, and offenses between you and people. And with what people, all who are at odds with you.
To do so does not guarantee you will succeed at achieving peace and reconciliation, but it does make clear your responsibility to give every possible, honest attempt at doing so. We should not refrain from doing so, refuse to do so, avoid doing so, or simply wait for the other side to do so. Consider how Christ explains this mindset of taking responsibility to pursue peace rather than assuming an passive position instead (Matt 5:23-24):
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
As followers of Christ, we have not only the example of Abram’s faith in action here, seeking reconciliation with Lot at personal cost, but we have the ultimate example of Christ himself – Abram’s eventual descendant and the very Son of God – doing this for us when he died upon the cross for our sins (2 Cor 5:18-19):
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
As followers of Christ, we must value long-term blessing over short-term success.
We must also, like Abram, make choices that accept the possibility of short-term loss for long-term success. We must we willing to lose comfort, reputation, wealth, and even relationships now for the ultimate exchange of all these things and more in eternity, in the New Creation that lasts forever, in God’s everlasting, never-ending kingdom.
Consider what Christ promised to his first followers (Matt 19:30):
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Like Abram, we must be totally okay with – and even in some cases fully expecting – receiving deferred blessing and rewards from God.
- Small business owners understand this when they invest large amounts of capital, which they often cannot afford to invest, in a business that they believe will provide large profit margins in the years and decades ahead.
- Working people understand this when they set aside money – which they feel they cannot afford to let go of now in light of pressing, immediate needs – to save and prepare for that time in life when they can no longer work as they do today. We call that retirement. But those who regularly, faithfully invest in this way will likely have large amounts of wealth waiting for them when they retire.
In both these examples, however, there is an element of chance and risk involved, for due to various uncontrollable factors, it is always possible that a new business will not succeed or that a working person’s retirement investments will not pan out.
This is not so with God. What God promises, he always does, if not immediately then in the future, in eternity. And only when we are deeply convinced of this reality are we able to make choices in this life – esp. with regards to relationships and reconciliation – that for the sake of peace call for short-term losses in exchange for long-term success.
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matt 19:30)
As we reflect on the losses and setbacks to which Christ may call us in our pursuit of peace between people and between people and God, may we reflect even more deeply and with far greater appreciation upon the ultimate loss which Christ suffered upon the cross in exchange for the ultimate reconciliation in the future, the salvation of mankind and the restoration of God’s creation and kingdom forever.
Discussion Questions
Life101/Digging Deeper
- What are some Scriptural truths that can help us to make good decisions after we have definitively messed up?
- What makes relational conflict perhaps more difficult than other kinds of difficult situations?
- How should a Christian apply the Gospel to relational conflict?
- What does complete reconciliation of a personal conflict show to others about God and the Gospel?
- Like Abraham, how does faith in God’s promises enable us to better pursue peace with other in conflict?
- What do we show about our own values when we pursue peace over personal interests?
- What do you think about making risky decisions for eternal blessings and the kingdom of God? Is it virtuous to be risky in this case?
- What would be an example of risk for the kingdom of God?
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