MAY 02
May 2.
The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household—and go to the land I will show you." Genesis 12:1
All noble life begins with sacrifice . To gain the higher—the lower must be given up. We must leave our own country—before we can get into God's country. We can have the better—only by giving up the less valuable. God calls us all to leave the old—in order to enter the new. It may not be literally to leave country, kindred, and home—and go out into a strange land; but in a spiritual sense it always is just this. If we would follow Christ—we must cut loose from the world, and go out with him.
Perhaps there is too great a tendency in these days—to try to follow Christ without cutting loose from the world. Too many people imagine that they can take the pilgrimage to Canaan—without leaving Ur! But this is quite impossible. We can get to our land of promise—only by leaving all, and following where Christ leads. This means that we must give up this world as our portion, and take the heavenly inheritance instead; we cannot keep both. The rich man who came to Christ could not sacrifice his earthly possessions, and therefore could not get the heavenly riches.