The Jews were obviously proud of their Abrahamic roots. In John 8:33, they proudly declared, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” So, in our passage Jesus challenged the Jews who love to boast of their ancestral connection to Abraham. True claim to Abraham as father is not by chanting it; it is by doing the things that he did that made even God to call him a friend. To enjoy the blessing of Abraham, we need to work like him.

“ To enjoy the blessing of Abraham, we need to work like him.”

One of the works of Abraham was that he believed God! This may sound rather too simplistic; but when you examine the circumstances under which he believed God, coupled with our own struggle in trusting His word in less severe circumstances, we will commend Abraham. Abraham was already an old man when God spoke that He would give him a son. Paul would later refer to Abraham’s body as dead at that point in time, in addition to equally dead womb of Sarah. These were like two medical impossibilities. Believing in this kind of situations is not the easiest of things. Time and again in our lives, we may find ourselves in dare situations that will require us to believe God, to take Him at His word if we are going to see His blessing.