"And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." - 1 Peter 1:17-21
About 40 or 50 years ago, my dad began a search to document the Elgin line in the United States. He coordinated with Elgin families scattered all over the country in an effort to track our family line to its beginnings on this continent and beyond. His initial work was hand written and eventually transcribed with a manual typewriter. After his death - the documents found their way to me, his first born son. Last month, at the prompting of my oldest living sister, I dusted them off - scanned them into my computer - converted the scan to text and then reformatted the document in MS Word. Ah - technology!
I know, today, there is great interest in genealogy in this country - and big money in it I suspect. Personally, I found my genealogy interesting but not captivating. But if I have aroused your curiosity - The Elgins arrived from Scotland in the commonwealth of Virginia in the 1670's or slightly earlier, what is now Loundes County, VA. The Elgins as a family were established in Scotland in the 1100's. Eventually the family found it's way across the US to settle in most of the States. I represent the 10th generation of Elgins. So there it is in a nutshell.
People are anxious to discover who preceded them in their blood line. As if they can find some significance in those facts. Feel good about who they are - significance by association if you will. We want to "cherry pick" what is known about our ancestors. Emphasize the good - successful - notable ones and gloss over not so good ones. The thing is - as Christians, we should not be so enamored with our "natural blood relatives". As Christians - we have a new ethnicity - a new blood line. Children of the Promise. Now that is something to get excited about!
"But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” - Romans 9:6-9
It's natural for us to be drawn to the flesh - it is what our old nature craves. Our significance in this world might be the color of our skin - the geographic regions where we were born and raised - our denomination - perhaps the university we attended. Or it could be our specific family line - our DNA. We so easily are drawn to what we can see - but that is not what is the most important Christian! To put it in perspective this is what Jesus said about natural blood relatives.
"Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.'" - Luke 14:25-27
We must love God more with - all our hearts - minds - souls - and strength. We should hate our very lives - meaning that who we are naturally cannot have precedence over who we are in Christ. Our love for other people and our devotion, or lack of devotion, to things of this world will flow out of that.
Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
No comments:
Post a Comment