Isaiah 51

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth."

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This chapter is not for the weak of heart...it's for those who pursue righteousness.

And, by "pursue righteousness" I mean those who passionately and enthusiastically chase after vindication...to the point of exhaustion. This is a pretty small cohort. Most people I know who call themselves Christians are neither passionate or enthusiastic about their faith. Neither do they feel the need for any vindication. They feel just fine about themselves.

Vindication: Absolution, acquittal, exoneration.

For what?

The very first indication that God is knocking is the sense that something's wrong. Something's missing. The problem is, we can't ignore it because it's nothing missing around us. It's within us. We rarely recognize what it is...we only know it's making us sick.

Sick enough to seek help...

The symptoms are anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, unworthiness, fear, anger, alienation. And most doctors want to give you a Xanax. All that will do is mask the symptoms. It won't heal the disease.

You see, the illness is not a "mood disorder". It's a "genetic disorder". It's called "SIN" and it has damaged our spiritual chromosomes to the degree that any connection to our Father, God is no longer identifiable. We 're orphans.

And we'll die alone...

What many of us did...when we experienced that spiritual sickness...was reach out to God and ask for healing.  And, God said "look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth."

Allow me to suggest that any medicine we take to cure ourselves of SIN must begin with Abraham. Anybody who tells you there is more than one road to God is lying. There is one road. It begins with Abraham and takes us all the way to Christ. If it doesn't...we're taking a placebo. We might feel good about taking it but it won't do a thing for us. You see, "Abraham believed God and righteousness was credited to him". That's it...nothing more.

Good start...

Now, believing God has some specific connotation. Hebrews 11:8 tells us what was so extraordinary about Abraham's faith: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” I'll tell you where that road went. It took Abraham straight to Jesus and his inheritance was a reconstruction of his spiritual DNA that connected him back to God.

Can we step out...in faith...and follow God where ever He leads? If we've never been sick, we won't understand...

Live boldly out there today...