Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It

 

This last year my sister began searching our family tree through Ancestry.com.  She sent me over the link and I have to tell you I was fascinated looking through the tree and discovering grandparents, great-grand parents, great-great-grand parents and so on through 9 levels of grand-parents.  I found out that my lineage came from France (mais oui, bien sûr – which means “yes of course”) and I had two great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grand fathers who fought in the Revolutionary War. I could continue on with the stories, but I'm sure it doesn’t interest you the way it did me. Why? Because this is not your lineage, it is mine.

The excitement comes because it is “My Story.” Something that looks dull to others becomes intriguing to me, firing up my heart and igniting my imagination.  By looking at my lineage, I am reminded that I am part of something bigger than me; something that began before me and will continue on long after I am gone (should Jesus tarry.)  

That is why God wants us to know His story.  It’s found in another genealogy book, the Bible. And yes, it is our story because Adam and Eve are our far-distant great-great-great-great-great………grand-parents.  They are the ones who started it all. Let me make this personal! In His Book, God wants to take you into his house where he has framed photos of your ancestors––yes, these are folks you may not know but their photos are still lining the walls of his house.

In our story we will read of a family patriarch named Abraham whose faith was so powerful that he is listed in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews Chapter 11.  We will see a matriarch named Ruth with courage that would make the most hardened warrior proud.  We learn of a stubborn distant relative named Jonah who rebels against God and gets swallowed by a huge fish. Then there is a timid man named Gideon who God calls a “mighty warrior” and he defeats his Midianite enemies with only 300 men of valor. You go Uncle Gideon! Then there is impetuous Peter and his big mouth and Paul who brought this story to the Gentiles so we too could be adopted by God as his very own sons and daughters.

Yet, in this story there is one more person that our Heavenly Father wants us to meet and that is His Son (our elder brother) Jesus.  He desires for us to look long into His eyes and hear his claims that what he began in the first chapter of the book, of creating a paradise for his people, will be realized in the last chapter of the book, where a perfect people can live in a perfect place with their perfect Lord…forever and forever.

The beauty of the Story is that you can be in this perfect place by accepting the perfect sacrifice, Jesus.  Will you be there? You can be there when you find your place in His Story.