Each year I make it a practice to read through the bible. It has been that way since I was first sitting under the teaching of my mentor and spiritual father, A. Wayne Bowers. He had been doing it since he first came to relationship with Christ. I thought, after so many years, what is left to re-read? Then, one morning early on in this part of my walk, I was listening to the radio. A pastor was talking about the bible and the accuracy of it, original documents and why we could/should trust it. During his talk, he quoted someone who had been one of his mentors. He said, "you should ruin a bible every year." At first, having been raised during a time when bibles were in court rooms and there was the fear of the hammer strike for misrepresenting when your hand was on one, I was terrified. He then quickly explained that you should be spending so much time in the word that your bible is marked up, pages bent, bindings loose and no room left for notes in margins. So, my journey began.
This year, I was reading through 2 Chronicles. It was like swimming in mud through the first 12 chapters. Why? The listings of names--genealogies. There is such a heavy emphasis in the Hebrew scriptures for who you come from. Everything is based upon the census and whose line you descend from. Chronicles isn't the only place. There are many listings throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Later, in Matthew, we get the same type of listings in order to demonstrate Jesus' descent through the Davidic line. There were even those in Nehemiah that were excluded from priestly office due to being unable to confirm their family line.
Why does this catch my eye?
Jesus.
He was approached by his disciples saying that his mother and brothers were outside and wanted to see him. He asks, "who is my mother and brothers?" He goes on to explain that those who do the will of his father are his mother and brothers and sisters. In a singular moment, Jesus radically shifts the emphasis of inheritance from actual blood lines to the common relationship with his heavenly Father. No more does your relationship (inclusive of your role in worship) depend upon who your father's father's father was. It now, in that sentence, depended upon you and your personal relationship.
And, this same relationship then draws you into a different relationship with those who are also in that relationship. They and you now becoming family, extending beyond, perhaps even more accurately excluding your blood lines. Bonds now exist as a result of your spiritual connection. Family takes on a whole new meaning.
And a whole new value. After all, your Father is now a king, regardless of what state you were born into. This means that, by virtue of who your father is, you are now an heir to a kingdom--royalty. Your past, including your parents' pasts and their parents' pasts, no longer matters. Only the future.
Think about the dynamic of this as a truth. Think about what this might mean for habitual behaviors that you seem to do simply because, "that's a family thing". Hey, that isn't your family's thing, because "we" don't do that. How do I know? Because, He doesn't do that and you and I are his kids.
You are a child of God. The family you are a member of is vast, compelled by his love and seeking to always adopt making new family members. Your past is no longer.
Look towards your future.
