Daily Devotions
Ancestry or Obedience?
Reading for January 4: Genesis 13-17
Weekly reading for January 1-7: Matthew 1-4
"And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
Matthew 3:9
I have been blessed by the Lord in innumerable ways, but arguably the greatest blessing I've experienced has been my family. I have a mother and father who both love the Lord. I had godly grandparents who were a profound influence in my life. And I knew two of my great-grandmothers who both had a strong faith in God.
But what is the value of this godly heritage if I do not personally put my faith in Jesus Christ? What is the benefit of having generations of Christians coming before me if I do not submit to and obey God's will in my life?
The answer is it's all WORTHLESS! God is not impressed with inherited faith. God is not awed by family heritage. The Pharisees boasted in their connection with Abraham, and John compared their relative worth before God to a bunch of rocks. Ancestry didn't mean anything to God back then and still doesn't mean anything to him now.
God will not be judging you, me, or anyone else by what our parents or grandparents have done before us. Listen to the language Paul uses in this well known passage about the judgment:
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that EACH ONE may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Cor 5:10)
I'm not going to be standing before the Lord with my dad and mom on the judgment day. My grandparents are not going to be standing before the judgment seat of Christ with me. I will stand as an individual. I will personally give an answer for what I have done, whether good or evil.
I am eternally grateful for the blessing of the family God has used to nurture and develop my faith. If you have been blessed in a similar way, thank God every day for the investment God has made in your spiritual life. But let us not put our confidence in this. Let our faith be in Christ alone and let us strive to develop our own personal faith in him.
Father, thank you for the godly influences you have placed in our lives, but help us not to make idols out of these but to trust and obey your Son in all things.
