Adam and Eve (and their descendants) chose to order the world their own way instead of God’s. Scarcity and harm spread across creation until God flooded the earth.

I would have quit on us at that point! But God is stubbornly merciful. After the floodwaters receded, God stuck with the original plan to order the world through human beings. 

God chose one man and his family to be God’s image on earth – charging them to order the world God’s good way. The father of that family was Abram, or Avram in Hebrew.

Avram means “father of many.” God promised Avram and his wife Sarai they’d have enough descendants to be a nation and to be a blessing to all nations.

In Genesis 18:18,19, God said:

“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

God instructed Avram to…

• direct (guide, lead, instruct) his people to
• keep (preserve, protect, guard, watch over) the “way of the Lord” by\
• doing what is “right and just.”

Like Adam and Eve, Avram and Sarai became God’s representatives on earth. Like Adam and Eve, they were to keep God’s way – not their own. And for the first time in scripture, God’s way is described as “just and right.”

We’ll get into the nerdy, beautiful details of these two words in weeks to come but, for now, a couple of very broad definitions:

Something is JUST if it is what God wants. It is ACCORDING TO God’s way. 

Something is RIGHT if it’s bringing about what God wants. It’s RESULTING IN God’s way.

So, as the image of God, Avram’s family is to do what God wants so that the world becomes what God wants it to be.

For Reflection:

• How am I guiding my people? 
• Is my family protective of and committed to God’s way?
• Are our time, talent, words, and resources bringing about the world God wants?