Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Trust in God

Of David.

Abram and Lot Separate

13 So Abram, his wife and Lot left Egypt. They took everything they owned and traveled to southern Canaan. ² Abram was very rich in cattle, silver and gold.

³ He left southern Canaan and went back to Bethel. He went where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai. ⁴ It was the place where Abram had built an altar before. So he worshiped the Lord there.

⁵ During this time Lot was traveling with Abram. Lot also had many sheep, cattle and tents. ⁶ Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together. ⁷ Abram’s herders and Lot’s herders began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.

¹⁴ After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look all around you. Look north and south and east and west. ¹⁵ All this land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your people. ¹⁷ Get up! Walk through all this land. I am now giving it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the great trees of Mamre. This was at the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

² Be careful of those who do evil. They are like dogs. They demand to cut^[a] the body. ³ But we are the ones who are truly circumcised. We worship God through his Spirit. We are proud to be in Christ Jesus. And we do not trust in ourselves or anything we can do. ⁴ Even if I am able to trust in myself, still I do not. If anyone thinks that he has a reason to trust in himself, he should know that I have greater reason for trusting in myself. ⁵ I was circumcised eight days after my birth. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrews, and my parents were Hebrews. The law of Moses was very important to me. That is why I became a Pharisee. ⁶ I was so enthusiastic that I tried to hurt the church. No one could find fault with the way I obeyed the law of Moses. ⁷ At one time all these things were important to me. But now I think those things are worth nothing because of Christ. ⁸ Not only those things, but I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Christ, I have lost all those things. And now I know that all those things are worthless trash. This allows me to have Christ ⁹ and to belong to him. Now that I belong to Christ, I am right with God and this being right does not come from my following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him. ¹⁰ All I want is to know Christ and the power of his rising from death. I want to share in Christ’s sufferings and become like him in his death. ¹¹ If I have those things, then I have hope that I myself will be raised from death.

Continuing Toward Our Goal

¹² I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that. That is the reason Christ made me his.