Genesis 24:1  Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. (NLT)

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Abraham habitually, but imperfectly, walked before God, just as God had directed him many years before. (See Genesis 12:1-3 and 17:1.)

Those good habits lived over a long and remarkable life led to blessings we know about, blessings untold, and blessings we still see in effect today. God kept his promises. He always does.

Why was Abraham so blessed? The power of habit has something to do with it. Abraham lived a life God could bless. He was a perfectly imperfect man. His failures are on display right next to his successes. Day in and day out, his life was one of regular and determined obedience to what God said. 

If we have not considered it in a while, now is a good time to remember and reinforce one of the cardinal truths of the Bible. Learning to hear and obey God is the most important lesson we will ever learn. How to hear and obey God is the most important lesson we will ever teach. 

We see God’s commands and promises in Abraham’s life through successive adventures, which appear like snapshots in a photo album. We see Old Abe at his best and his worst. When it comes time to write his obituary, to shrink his story into a space tight enough to hold a reader’s attention without boredom, we learn a few replicable lessons. 

1. God blesses us with a unique set of abilities and resources so that we can provide for ourselves, our families, and others. We are blessed to be a blessing.
2. God wants us to know and experience him in every circumstance. He wants us to remember how this story is all about his purpose. He wants us to live in deepening friendship with himself. 
3. God wants us to walk before him in a habitually blameless manner. We will come up short on some journeys, wander off the path on others, and fail to finish what we start more times than we can count. By God’s grace and in his strength, however, we can begin again more intelligently and get back on the road toward becoming the person he always dreamed we would be. 
4. God wants us to live for more than the years of our lives. This truth is only partly about life beyond the grave. Instead, it is about influence extending for generations. Our great-grandchildren may never know us as anything more than names in a genealogical record. However, they will live under the influence of our successes and failures. What we capture in writing, what we build into others, and where we succeed in blessing the world will affect them in ways only eternity will tell. May this truth shape for the better every decision we make every day for the rest of our lives. 

What blessings have you inherited from your ancestors?

What blessings will those who come behind you inherit?

How will you honor God and serve others today to build a better world for your descendants?

How will you capture what God is saying to you and what you do in response? 

How will you declare God’s grace, faithfulness, and blessings for future generations?

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I will listen deeply to what God says to me, I will obey carefully what he tells me to do, and I will record the instructions, the activity, and the results so that those who come behind me may see God’s trustworthy and true nature and character. 

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Our Father, give me ears to hear what you are saying to me day by day. Give me a willing and obedient heart to follow wherever you lead. Give me the self-discipline to record what you do in my life so that others may see how good you are. Amen.