Every persons view of life, including the Christian life, reveals their view of God's relationship to them and the entire universe. We have only three basic choices regarding God's relationship to creation. God is either dissolved into, disconnected from, or distinguished from the physical world. The Bible reveals that God is distinguished from his creation, able to act in it and yet it is always dependent upon him. Thus, the biblical gospel is fundamentally about what God does for, in and through his people. The biblical gospel does not cast us back upon ourselves, but upon God, and thus Christian living is not motivated by guilt over what we are not doing for God, but motivated by love and gratitude for what God has done, is doing and will do for, in and through us, who are the objects of his mercy.

God spoke his word to Abram and commanded him to go from his country, his relatives and his father's house to the land that God would show him. In doing this, God was requiring Abram to do something that was very scary--to leave everything that in the ancient world was the source of security, status, success and satisfaction. Stephen in Acts 7 and the writer of Hebrews in his 11th chapter tell us that Abram did not receive in his lifetime the things promised, that he left not knowing where he was going, and that he, and all his descendants who believed in God for salvation were strangers and exiles on the earth. Faith in God means a way of life that is scary, but it is truly a life of faith in God; it casts us back on God, not ourselves. Abram is able to answer this call and obey this command because he received God's word.