Credit
Today’s Scripture Selection: Genesis 15:6
“And Abram believed in the LORD and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
People love credit – or at least a lot of people do.
I am amazed, especially around Christmas, when I see just how many little plastic cards people fit into their already overstuffed wallets and how freely they use them.
“Black Friday” – ominous though it sounds – is all about spending, spending, spending – often on credit.
But the credit that is mentioned in Genesis, of Abram, is another type of credit altogether.
Abram’s faith in God, his willingness to trust Him, his willingness to pack his and his family’s bags and journey out – stage by stage – to a land yet unknown – all this and more was “credited to him as righteousness.”
As the holidays approach, and the spending increases, and the giving and receiving “feeding frenzy” gets underway once again, I would remind you of the greatest credit available to you and yours.
It’s not MasterCard or Visa. It’s God crediting you for your faith in Him.
I’m not talking about “cashing in” spiritually speaking on your faithfulness, as in, “Look God, see how faithful I am? Now what do I get for it?”
That’s got it all wrong.
But I do believe God will see your faith, your trust, and your hope – and that it will not be in vain.
God will smile upon you and quietly affirm, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What greater credit could you wish for than that?
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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