Genesis 22 Reflection

              Last week, Belssi gave the message on Genesis 22;1-14. It was about a test Abraham received that displayed his faith and reasoning in God. God called out to Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, who He promised to make into a great nation. Abraham obediently traveled to the mountain with Isaac and had faith that somehow God would fulfill His promise. Isaac submitted to Abraham without complaining, just like how Abraham submitted to God. This shows that Abraham deeply loved and feared God. When they were preparing for the offering (as they had done many times before), God provided a ram in Isaac's place. From this passage, we can see the example of Abraham worshiping God through faith,love,trust and obedience.  Through his actions, his love was shown by almost-sacrificing his son which is the same thing as worshiping. I remember in our 2014 winter retreat, the topic was "Worship is Life" and the speaker said that anything that shows God he is number #1 is worshiping. Sacrificing big things that are a huge part of our lives shows that we put Him as our top priority. Same goes for faith, where we believe that He will fulfill the promises He makes, even if it takes years. Having faith for our commitment to stay established to our covenants with God also shows that He is #1 because of our endurance. What drives our faith is our love for God, which is learned from the grace received. After loving and enduring and obeying, we place our trust in our Father's hands. When we continuously worship, he will always continuously provide. The thing I want to sacrifice is social media. Consider it as a life-time lent. About a month ago, I decided to not go on YouTube, Instagram, Kik, e.t.c. for three weeks and it honestly felt like a year. Even though the purpose was to focus on school studies, I want to continue not going on it because once the three week thing was over, I found myself getting distracted again with meaningless things.  I can't go back and retrieve wasted time, so now is the perfect opportunity to use it more wisely especially since I will be going to high school next year. Through doing this, I hope to show with my actions that God is truly my God of my life and social media is not. I encourage everyone to give up something this week whether it is games, social media, or even things like gossiping to show that they aren't your God.