It is at the heart of Christianity.
To seek the good of others.
To be a blessing.
To love.
When God calls Abraham, the Father of Faith, He said:
“I will make you a great nation and bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing…” (Gen 12:3).
When God gathers his people at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), He gave them laws to organize a community around the principles of love yourself, love your neighbor and love God. Over and over you will find bible verses referring to taking care of the poor and welcoming the stranger.
Jesus came and lived it.
He modeled it.
The perfect example of living to be a blessing to all.
Yes! Christians are called to be a blessing.
But have you ever thought of what will the consequences be if Christians are not true to this call?
There is an amazing story in the Bible that maybe gives us a clue and a stern warning.
We find the story in Genesis 12:10-20.
Because of a famine in Canaan, Abram was forced to move down to Egypt and to live there. The story ended with Abraham leaving Egypt red in the face, the king demanded him to leave.
What went wrong in Egypt?
Going down to Egypt, Abraham was faced with a big challenge. The Pharaoh (King of Egypt) had a reputation that he loved beautiful women, and Sarai was one. Abram realized that Pharaoh would love to have Sarai as part of his harem. He was afraid that he will be killed so that Pharaoh can have his wife. Therefore, Abram said to Sarai:
"I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, `This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." (Gen 12:12)
So Abram told a lie.
But is that the reason that things went wrong in Egypt?
I guess you will agree that it is more complicated.
Yes, Abram told a lie, but to really understand what went wrong, we need to ask: “Why did he tell a lie?”
And again the answer seems obvious. He told a lie because he was afraid of what the Pharaoh could do to him.
We can put it this way: To tell a lie to the Pharaoh about Sarai, was the second mistake Abram made. The first mistake was that Abram did not thought of God as someone who can help in that situation.
So Abram panic and he started to make his own plans!
But is that the full story?
I do not think so.
Do you remember Abram’s calling from Genesis 12:1-3? From the beginning it was the main focus of the Lord that all the nations would be blessed through Abram.
Also Egypt.
And with the famine Abram had the opportunity to be a blessing to the people of Egypt.
But in the moment of crisis, Abram started to panic and he could not see the opportunity in Egypt for what it was – to fulfill his calling to be a blessing.
For Abram the famine was an agricultural problem.
And the king wanting his wife was a cultural problem.
The rest of the story of Abram in Egypt is an amazing one. At first it seemed if Abram’s plan to say that Sarai was his sister, worked well. The Pharaoh welcomed Abram and gave him a lot of presents (Gen 12:16).
If Abram was only faced an agricultural and cultural problem he did well to survive it.
But then the trouble started!
But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household… (Gen 12:17).
It is as if the plans of Abram to take care of himself and not to think about being a blessing to the Egyptians, was now making a somersault and hit the wrong people!
How ironical, what a shame…
Instead of being a blessing, Abram brought a curse to the people of Egypt…
It is heartbreaking to here the Pharaoh speak in vs. 18:
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, `She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife.
These are very hard words to someone who was called to be a blessing.
These are a big warning sign to any community of believers who are called to be a blessing.
Can you see what is happening here?
The moment those who are called to be a blessing start to take care of themselves, and not leaving it to God to take care of them, they become a curse for the people around them!
It happened with Abraham in Egypt.
And through history we see it over and over again…
It is the story colonization.
It is the story of apartheid South Africa.
It is the story of too many communities today…
Comentários