Corona Devo 903

How far can you go back?  

In your family line, I mean... 

I was disappointed (and a bit ashamed) when I realized that I can only go back a couple generations when trying to recall "my people" and the generations that came before me. 

Sandy (Floyd III) and Cyndi are/were my parents.

Floyd II and Eileen were my paternal grandparents.

Jeanne and Harold were my maternal grandparents.

Floyd and Emma were my paternal great-grandparents.

And beyond that, I know/remember very few names that go back much further.  But do you know who has a perfectly detailed and precisely-recorded family tree?  

Us.  

Well, "us" as in God's children.  

Listing the people who have come generation after generation in a family line can also be called a "chronicle", and the Bible actually devotes two whole Books in the Old Testament (I and II Chronicles) to doing just that.  

In a clean and clear form, I Chronicles (29 chapters) and II Chronicles (36 chapters!) lists all of the descendants of Adam and Eve (our first generation), right up until the days of when those chapters were being lived and written.

It looks something like this...for 65 chapters:

The descendants of Adam were Seth, Enosh, (2) Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, (3) Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, (4) and Noah.  

The sons of Noah were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  

(5) The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.  

(6) The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 

 (7) The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.  (8) The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.  ~I Chronicles 1:1-8

What does it all mean?  And what does it all mean for us?  I think it means that people come and people go.  Generation after generation is born and then dies.  People live, move, exist for a period...and then their time is up.  

In the Biblical family tree listed in I and II Chronicles there are hundreds of people named.  Some lived for the Lord and some lived for themselves.

Looking back into our family trees...the same is true.  There are those that left a legacy for serving God and others.  And there are those that left an epitaph of serving only themselves.  

We will all live and die.  But how will we live?  And what legacy will we leave when we die?

When our life "chronicle" is listed...what will our "descendants" (of work/school/team/neighborhood/city/church and blood) say and know about us?  How will they live or be affected as a result of being "related" to us?    

Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. (16) Hold firmly to the word of life...  ~Philippians 2:15-16  

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ~Philippians 4:8  

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!  (24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.  ~Galatians 5:22-24

So...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  ~I Corinthians 10:31

~~~

I and II Chronicles tells the story of people, God's people.  Some chose to enter into God's plan and some didn't.  We will have a chronicle too.  We come from a family tree and we will leave a family tree of people that we had connection with, whether by blood-line, or by the blood of Jesus, or both.  

Our "chronicle" continues the chronicle of all of the sons and daughters of God that came before us...and that will come after us.  We have the fire of hope and salvation in Christ that burns in us just as it has blazed in generations dating back to Adam and Eve.  Our "family tree" in Christ is real, and is chronicled in the Bible.  God's word brings us hope, peace, Truth and direction, but it also brings us history, dates and the names of the real people that built our spiritual family tree.  

We come from a long line of Believers, whether we can remember their names on the spiritual-family-tree or not.  

God never abandons his people, and our faith in Him is what carries one generation to the next.  Choose today to live for the Lord: One choice at a time, one day at a time, and day after day.  This is what will make a chronicle for Christ, and this is what always has. 

And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.  ~I Chronicles 28:20


Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com  

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