Graciousness

And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.  – Genesis 13.8-12

We all know that Abram was not perfect. He is going to make plenty of mistakes, but all in all he is a pretty good guy and has some great character traits we can learn from.

Here he does something that would be unheard of. In these cultures the patriarch had absolute power. They did what they wanted and the rest of the family just accepted.

But here Abram takes his nephew Lot up on a hill to divide up the land. As they gaze out part of the land is dry and arid. It has no water and it is desert like. The other land is well watered and lush and lovely. Abram says to Lot ‘you pick the area that you want and I will take the other.’ It doesn’t seem like it took Lot long to choose.

He looked out, saw the lush land, saw the city of Sodom, and said ‘I’ll take that land.’

And Abram gave his young nephew the best land.

This little event here has always amazed me. Abram was willing to take second best even though he had all the right in the world to the best.

I am challenged by that example. I like to be the first guy in the queue. I like the biggest piece of pizza. I like all that kind of thing. And yet as I look at Abram he had much more at stake than a piece of pizza. This was their land where they would live the rest of their lives and he gave up the best.

I really want that kind of grace in my life. I want that kind of ability to put others first with the same grace that Abram did here. May I be so self-less that I could do the same as Abram did.