Amos 5:18: “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! / For what good is the day of the LORD to you? / It will be darkness, and not light.”

November 14th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In Amos’ day, just like today, everyone claimed they wanted the day of the Lord to hurry up and come. They viewed it as a day of political victory rather than the day of spiritual judgment it would actually be. God warned them that they needed to examine their hearts. They mistakenly believed Jews automatically had salvation because they were born into the family of Abraham. But in the New Testament, Jesus denied that mere physical lineage was sufficient for salvation, saying that being from the seed of Abraham didn’t mean they were children of Abraham: “They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham'” (John 8:39). Jesus’ point was that those who are really, truly Abraham’s children, imitate Abraham’s faith and obedience, which was demonstrated through his actions: “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3, italics added).

Many of us grew up under teaching like this, that if you were born and immediately baptized, then you were in the church, in the covenant, locked in with God. But as the old proverb clearly says, “God has no grandchildren, only children.” You cannot inherit faith. As much as every believing Christian parent would like that, there is no automatic transfer of God’s truth to our children or grandchildren. Every individual, no matter what their genetic, cultural, denominational, or atheistic background, must make his or her own spiritual journey to repentance and surrender to God. Only then will that person be ready for the “day of the LORD.” For Abraham and everyone else, the issue is have we believed God. If we have, then what was true of Abraham will also be true of us—our belief in Christ will be “accounted to [us] for righteousness.”

“LORD, we believe that Jesus died on our behalf, in our place. We accept His position as Lord and Savior over our lives this day.”