"Walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). Was God speaking here of Abraham continuing in the belief that he would have a seed? Is this what the Lord meant by "be thou perfect"? Probably not.

God was exhorting Abraham to walk in the land as an upright man by not beating his servants, not lying, not cheating his neighbors, not bearing false witness, not committing adultery. Abraham was commanded to add to his faith the virtue of godly character and living. And so are we. Godly character and behavior are necessary if we are to continue in fellowship with the Lord.

God comes to each Christian, after he or she has been a believer for a while, and points toward the need for upright, conscientious behavior in the Presence of the Lord.

If we are to use an action of Abraham as our model for receiving Christ by faith, then we also are to use the life of Abraham as our model for righteous, obedient behavior after we become a Christian.

James, in his emphasis on works as a means of obtaining favor with God, stressed that Abraham was a sternly obedient servant of God. Let us look more deeply into Abraham's behavior. Let us employ the incident to which James was referring.

God came to the believing, perfect Abraham and tested him concerning his willingness to obey God under very difficult circumstances.

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:2)

This truly was a Gethsemane experience. We too, as Christians, are brought from time to time into difficult tests of faith and obedience. This also is part of our Christian walk, in addition to receiving the Gospel of Christ by faith.

We all may know the story of God's command to Abraham to offer up the heir of promise. This incident points out that faith reveals itself in our actions. Whether or not we truly possess victorious faith is demonstrated as the Holy Spirit brings us into arenas of extremely difficult decisions.

Consider God's response as Abraham lifted the sacrificial knife:

. . . for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (Genesis 22:12)

What shall we say about Genesis 22:12: "now I know that thou fearest God"?

Faith in God, which is inseparably connected with the wholesome fear of God, is revealed in what we do. Who can know whether he truly possesses faith in God? Because we state that we do? The fires of testing and tribulation reveal the actual condition of our faith.

If we love Christ and believe in Him we will do what He says. We will keep His word. We will feed His lambs and His sheep.

We are not to say "I love you, Jesus" and then ignore His commandments!

To be continued.