“But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘”I made Abram rich'”. I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me – to Aner, Eschol and Mamre. Let them have their share.” (Verses 22-24)
Abram refused to let himself be obligated to anyone but the Lord. Had he done so, this Canaanite king might later have claimed the right of kingship over Abram.
This passage reminded me of Matthew 6:21. It reads, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Abram’s “treasure” was in obligation to the Lord. Even when the king of Sodom offered Abram to have his tithe back, he was steadfast and was only willing to accept that which came from the Lord.
Who or what are we obligated to? Even Godly people can be deceitful by being generous at one time, in order to receive something back, as our obligation, at a later point. Abram had the wisdom to realize this to maintain his obligation to God. Is our heart focused on what we or others can do for us, or are we like Abram, with our heart focused on what God will provide?
Lock Your Wings 
Interesting thoughts.
Yesterday at Bible study we were reading through Ephesians 6 and the question came up regarding one’s motivations to do good. Should we do good because God calls us to, or should we do good because we know that we will be rewarded in heaven? If we do good only because of our future reward in heaven, is that too much of a works-based faith?
I believe that first I need to have a sincere heart and to realize that I am doing good because I want to be in right relationship with the Lord. My motivation is that His grace is so big, that the least I could do in return is live for Him. For me, Heaven becomes my motivation only when I am burnt out. It sets me back in my place, gives me an internal perspective, so I can realign myself in my relationship with God.
For Abram, it is evident that his motivations are based on the intimate level of trust he has for God. I hope I can be like Abram one day.
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The first thing I thought of was that what initially looks pleasing to the eye may turn out badly. When Abram gave Lot a choice of which land he wanted Lot looked with his eyes and chose that which was pleasing to him. It turns out, maybe it wasn’t such a good piece of land if the kings start a war and you have all your possessions stolen and need to be rescued by your uncle. How often that we make choices with our shallow and surface views instead of the best choices according to God’s desires?
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It is important for us understand our motivations for doing something, so thank you for sharing that!
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Good point. Even in playing a game, one will typically “attack” someone who appears to have more stock or wealth.
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Not to be a skipping record, but the same verses stood out to me today as previously – lol. Two verses that came to mind while reading are:
Matthew 6:33 – Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
Psalm 37:4 – Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your hearts desires.
Straight forward, but not always easy: Seek God first and foremost, delight in the Lord and in His precepts, and He will give us everything we need; which in turn, becomes our hearts desires.
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