City Life Starter

 I. The Word: Hebrews 11:8-12 

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

 
II.​Reflection Questions 

1.​Are you living by faith?

2.​What does it mean to follow Jesus?

3.​Are you following Jesus in the decisions you make about your life?

 

In 2012, my wife Cindy and I decided to build our dream house. My law practice was doing well. We had paid off our house and saved money. It was time to build the house we had always dreamed of. I had begun sketching out some ideas. It would be a large U-shaped house that wrapped around a swimming pool in the back yard. There would be a home theater, and a master bedroom with a view of the pool, and a spiral staircase from the master bedroom to a library above the bedroom that led to a beautiful library overlooking the pool.

 

We started scouting out potential plots of land farther away from Houston, because that is where the vacant land is, and not too far into this process I was hit with a thought, or maybe it was a conviction: “We should pray about this first.” I told Cindy and she agreed. So, we decided to pray for a few days to make sure we were doing what the Lord wanted us to do.

 

After about a week, not having discussed our thoughts or prayers on the subject in the interim, we came back together. I said, “I know this sounds crazy but I don’t think we should move out; I think the Lord is saying we should move downtown.” Cindy said, “You are not going to believe this, but I felt the Lord say the same thing to me.” So we began looking in downtown Houston for a place to live.

 

About a year later, we still had not found a place to live downtown, but we felt like the Lord was saying to put our house on the market. It seemed a bit risky, not having a place to move to, but we were obedient and put our house on the market. It sold the next day.

 

 

 

Now we didn’t have a choice. We had to move. So, we bought a $1,300 square foot condominium on Main Street in downtown Houston, which was the best option we had at the time. We sold much of our furniture, gave away a lot of other stuff, and put what was left in storage. Rather than moving into a dream home, it felt like downsizing. It is what old people do once the kids have left and they are moving on to social security. It seemed like we had skipped a step somewhere.

 

For the 2 ½ years we lived on Main Street in downtown Houston. I prayed daily asking the Lord what we were doing downtown, but never doubting we had heard the Lord and had been obedient.

 

When we moved downtown, we also relocated my law practice downtown. About the same time we added a new area of law to our practice that required we be closer to the courthouse. As a result of this new addition to our practice, business grew, and the firm grew.

 

In the midst of all that, because we were downtown, we found out about place on the top floor of a building in the Historic District in downtown Houston. If we hadn’t been living downtown, we never would have heard about it. In November 2015, we bought it and moved in. It has a spiral staircase and library.

 

Now, I’m not sure how the story ends. We are still in the middle of it. I am sure it will be an adventure. The point of all this is that by faith we were obedient to Jesus, and that faith was manifested in following Him, and following when we didn’t know where it would lead or how it would end.

 

We read the story of Abram and because we know how it ends and view it in retrospect we see it as a great spiritual calling. But the call of Abram probably appeared to Abram more secular than sacred. God didn’t ask Abram to “surrender to the full-time ministry”—God told him to move. Abram followed, not knowing where he was going or how the story would end.

 

Faith is a not a one-time decision to believe on Jesus for salvation. Faith is a lifestyle of following Jesus. As Paul told the Roman Christians, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” Living by faith means consulting Jesus and following Him in the decisions we make about our lives, and in following we prove our faith.