Strength for Today

"I will ... make your name great" (Genesis 12:2). These are the words God spoke to Abram when He called him to go to a land that He would show him. Abram probably had no idea that "his name would be the standard for all God's people" (Henry Blackaby). You will find the name of Abram/Abraham about 300 times in the Bible. His name is revered today by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. Paul called him, "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16). We are "Abraham's seed" (Gal. 3:29). The Amplified Version says, "I will ... make your name great [famous and distinguished]." God made the name of Abraham famous throughout the earth. He said of him, "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him" (Gen. 18:18, 19). My father often spoke of "greatness by connection." Here is a fine example. "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). Living by faith is living up to the name of our father Abraham.