Fri.’s Devo - Abraham and Lot

Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:27-48; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 1:29-33
Anytime there is growth, there is struggle. Abram and Lot were both growing and the struggle came between their herdsmen. To bring peace, they decided to split and go separate ways. Sometimes, it is necessary to do this even though it is painful at the time. Churches split, health clubs split, even families split. Hopefully, it brings about a peaceful ending. Lot took the best land with the cities near Sodom and Abram chose the plains of Jordan. When Lot had gone, God told Abram to look north, south, east and west because all the land was going to one day be his. He was to walk the land and where he walked would be his.
Meanwhile, Lot found himself in the middle of a battle between kings. All of these kings were part of evil kingdoms. Lot was taken captive and all his possessions were taken. Abram, with only 318 men went and recovered all that had been taken and brought Lot back. On the way back, Abram met Melchizedek, the high priest of the Lord. Abram recognized that Melchizedek was a powerful holy man so he gave him a tenth of his spoil and had communion with him. Once again, God spoke to him and told him that he had a great reward for him. Abram wondered what reward could be better than an inheritance and he had no children. God promised him that he would have a seed from his own body that would be his heir. Abram believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness to him. Then, God cut a covenant with Abram to seal the promise.
In Matthew, Jesus told the crowd how to really fulfill the law. It was not by just following the commands but by letting the spirit of the command change their hearts. He told them to love not only their neighbor, but their enemies, and to pray for those that persecuted them. Proverbs reminds us that we will eat the fruit of our ways. If we listen to God we will live in safety and be at rest without fear of harm.
Lord, we trust the changes you bring in our lives. We know that you are building an eternal building in us that will not fade away.