Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Abraham in Canaan,” pp.
134–136, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
“Christ’s church is to be a blessing, and its members are to be blessed
as they bless others. The object of God in choosing a people before
all the world was not only that He might adopt them as His sons and
daughters, but that through them He might confer on the world the
benefits of divine illumination. When the Lord chose Abraham it was
not simply to be the special friend of God, but to be a medium of the
precious and peculiar privileges the Lord desired to bestow upon the
nations. He was to be a light amid the moral darkness of his surround-
ings.
“Whenever God blesses His children with light and truth, it is not
only that they may have the gift of eternal life, but that those around
them may also be spiritually enlightened. . . . ‘Ye are the salt of the
earth.’ And when God makes His children salt, it is not only for their
own preservation, but that they may be agents in preserving others. . . .
“Do you shine as living stones in God’s building? . . . We have not
the genuine religion, unless it exerts a controlling influence upon us
in every business transaction. We should have practical godliness to
weave into our lifework. We should have the transforming grace of
Christ upon our hearts. We need a great deal less of self, and more of
Jesus.”—Ellen G. White, Reflecting Christ, p. 205.
Discussion Questions:
 In light of the blessing of Abram, “ ‘I will bless you . . . and
you shall be a blessing’ ” (Gen. 12:2, NKJV), what does it mean to
be blessed? How can we, as people who serve the same God as did
Abram, be a blessing to others?
 What was wrong in Abram’s half lie regarding his sister-wife?
What is worse: lying or saying some truth while still, at the same
time, technically lying?
 Read again Genesis 14:21–23, Abram’s response to the offer
of the king of Sodom. Why did he respond as he did, and what
important lesson can we take from this story? Would not Abram
have been justified had he decided to take what the king had
offered him?