Progressive Commitment | Clip 1
The Christian life is fundamentally a journey of progressive commitment, requiring continual movement, relinquishment of human attachments, and the willingness to let God take the initiative. The biblical depiction of the believer’s life as a “walk,” rather than a static existence, emphasizes that spiritual growth must be progressive. If a believer is living by “yesterday’s light today,” they are in danger of becoming a backslider.
The standard for righteousness is a pathway that “shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” indicating that if the light is not “getting brighter every day,” self-examination is necessary.
The life of Abraham, who is called the father of all who believe through faith in Jesus Christ, serves as the primary example of this progressive journey. The apostle Paul confirms that believers are children of Abraham if they “walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham”.
Abraham’s spiritual progress was marked by meeting specific conditions laid out by God, and each step involved a further commitment that required him to relinquish something human—often involving desires, relationships, or affections.
1. The Principle of Relinquishment: Fewer Options, Deeper Progress
The approach to God, symbolized by the pattern of the Tabernacle, shows that the further one goes with God, “the fewer your options” until “you have no option but God”. This spiritual progress inherently means giving up something, and the moment a person stops giving up is the point where spiritual progress ceases.
Abraham’s journey exemplifies five key steps of progressive commitment, each requiring him to release an attachment:
Commitment 1: Leaving the City (Ur of the Chaldees)
Abraham’s initial objective, following God’s command, was to go to the land of Canaan. God had commanded him to leave three things: “thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father’s house”.
Commitment 2: Leaving the Father (Haran)
Abraham started his journey from Ur but only got halfway to Canaan, settling in Haran. The New Testament, specifically the speech of Stephen in Acts 7:4, illuminates the hindrance: Abraham took his father, Terah, with him. He could not complete the journey as long as his father was alive because God had commanded him to leave his father’s house.
The completion of the journey only occurred after his father died. This is used as an analogy: many people want to reach the promised land but want to “take father with us,” leading them to get “halfway and no further”. “Father” can represent things from the past, such as certain traditions, associations (religious, denominational, financial, business, or social), or even friends.
Commitment 3: Letting Go of the Nephew (Lot)
Even after leaving Haran, Abraham had not met all the conditions, as he still had his relative, Lot, with him. The Hebrew word Lot means “a veil,” suggesting that Abraham could enter the promised land with Lot, but he “couldn’t see the promised land because he had a veil over his eyes”.
God arranged circumstances—strife between the herdsmen—that forced a separation. Abraham acted with meekness (which is a mark of strength, not weakness), allowing Lot, the younger man, to choose the land first. Abraham displayed “total confidence in God that God would use Lot’s choice to work God’s will”.
Lot chose the materially rich Plain of Jordan, pitching his tent toward Sodom, a corrupted and evil environment. As a result of this wrong choice, Lot took his whole family into Sodom and “never got them out,” serving as a great warning about the responsibility of fathers.
Only after Lot was separated from him did God speak to Abraham again, telling him to “Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art”. As long as Lot was present, Abraham could not see his inheritance, but once the veil (Lot) was removed, Abraham could look in every direction and claim the land God promised.