Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6, NIV)
Do you remember the 1999 movie, The Sixth Sense, where a young boy tells Bruce Willis’ character his secret? The boy says, “I see dead people.” It’s an eerie—and memorable—line. It is always fun to reminisce with good friends on the topic of movies, golf rounds, travels, family stories…you name it.
A few years back, I was spending the day with a collegiate golfer who had qualified for the Masters. He was playing a practice round at Augusta a little over a month before the Masters, and before the round we were having lunch in the grill room. On the wall at Augusta National is a glass case with a club from each of the Masters champions. They have Jack Nicklaus’ putter from 1986, Zach Johnson’s wedge from 2007, and a memorable club from each of the other winners. I remember just standing there, looking into the glass case at each club and enjoying the memory of the champions from years gone by.
Several times in the New Testament, and especially in Romans 4, Paul reminded his readers of the great father of the faith, Abraham, and how he was justified before God by faith, not works.
As we reminisce about Abraham’s life, we see an extremely faithful man who believed God yet was by no means perfect. Paul pointed us to the fact that people are saved by faith, not only after Jesus came but even before. The cross was the centerpiece of all civilization, not its beginning. How is someone saved today? Answer: By faith in God looking back to the cross. How was someone saved before Jesus came? Answer: By faith in God looking forward to the coming Messiah. As the Old Testament flowed along, more and more clues about this Anointed Redeemer were revealed by God’s prophets. Therefore, sinful people have always been saved by faith…the kind of true faith that leads people to action.
Scripture speaks of the day when those who have personally placed their faith in Christ will be in heaven, and we’ll be given to chance to reminisce with God about our life on earth. Our sins are forgiven, separated from us as far as the east is from the west, so we won’t talk about those. Instead, we’ll be able to reminisce with God about some times we were faithful, by his grace. In light of the coming day when believers will sit at the table with God, our sweetest times will be reminiscing about Jesus… things he said… what he did… how he moved in our lives… how he conquered death and evil.
But why wait until later to reminisce about the greatest man ever and quote lines from the greatest book ever written? Let us reminisce daily about what God has done, remembering the heroes of the past and recalling God’s faithfulness in our own lives.
There will come a day when, as the boy mentioned in The Sixth Sense, we will “see dead people.” These dead people will have been raised to life by faith in Christ. In looking forward to reminiscing with people like Jesus and Abraham, let’s trust God enough today—with the kind of Spirit-inspired faith that moves us to action—that we will give them something to talk about in heaven!
—
Korky Kemp
May 30, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.