My Past is not My Future Anymore

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  2 Corinthians 5:17

I’ve been reading recently through the genealogical records of 1 Chronicles of the sons of Israel. I know, that’s pretty dry stuff – who begat who and thus-and-so is the son of so-and-so. Most people I know who try to read through the Bible end up skipping the first 9 chapters of this book. But I’ve read the Bible enough times to begin to pick out some names I’ve run across before and to see things I’ve never noticed in these passages.

Stick with me for a little Bible study lesson before we get to the application.

Genealogy is very important in the eastern cultures, even today. This is very different from the western culture with our sense of independence. While there is inheritance and some businesses that are passed down through generations, the west does not value the generation interconnectedness of the east. Land rights, position and particularly religious authority are traced back many, many generations. When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem 70 years after the Babylonian captivity, genealogical records ensured the rights of property and position. This was especially important for the Levites – or descendants of Jacob’s son Levi, the temple servants who were assigned their position and work by these records. If a Levite could not prove by the genealogical record that they had rights to a position in the temple, they were not permitted to serve.

Each one of Jacob/Israel’s sons is listed along with the list of many of his descendants up to the fall of Jerusalem.   As I read through these names I saw a trend emerge. Much like the Levites, many of the ancestral lines held certain positions for generations.   One that caught my attention was the line of Issachar, another of Jacob’s sons. If you have the time and inclination, read the 2nd chapter of Numbers where the tribes of Israel are arranged around the tabernacle in their camp and in their order of travel. Judah was the royal tribe and they were “front and center” in the arrangement. They were edged by the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, who were charged with protecting the royal tribe, from which King David and King Jesus would come. These two tribes took their charge very seriously. For all the years of wilderness wandering and awaiting their settlement in the Promised Land, Issachar and Zebulun stood watch over Judah. The genealogical listing in 1 Chronicles highlights “the mighty men of valor” and the number of “men ready for battle” in the record of Issachar (1 Ch. 7:4-5). 1 Chronicles 12:33 says 50,000 “of the sons of Zebulun” were in David’s mighty army. Here’s the point: the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun were still faithful to their God-given charge more than 900 years after it was first issued. Almost a millennium later, the sons of the sons of the sons were at their post, protecting the king.

I love that. I love a strong, godly heritage that continues on through the generations. I think of the family of Billy Graham, and his many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who serve in ministry. I know of many families who have multi-generational pastors, missionaries and leaders in ministry. I love to see several generations crowded together on the church pew every Sunday. A godly heritage is a precious thing.

But maybe that is not your heritage. Maybe you don’t have a lineage of preachers and missionaries and godly prayer warriors. Maybe your family tree, like mine produced a lot of bad fruit, and more than a few nuts. I remember hearing my grandmother talking about her grandfather who was a cattle rustler, and a brother who spent more time in jail than at home. Maybe your family has a sinful “legacy” like mine does, and you can trace, not the influence of God, but that of evil through your family. Does that mean that you are destined to follow your family’s path? Not if God has anything to say about it.

Our key verse is a promise that when we come to Christ, we have a whole new story, all our own yet to be written by “the Author of our faith,” Jesus (Heb. 12:2). Your past and your family’s past are no longer the story of your life. If you are in Christ you are “a new creation,” and what you will become is up to God not your past, your parents, grandparents or anyone else. For many years I fell victim to the sinful thread that ran through my family. It was “my destiny,” like those before me. But God said “NO.” Just as He did for so many before me, God gave me a new name, a new lineage, and a new future. I am now a child of God and my family lineage is that of Jesus Christ and all the saints who have gone before me (Hebrews 11). This is the heritage I stand on today. This is the history of my family: godliness, obedience, endurance, faithfulness, righteousness, holiness and blessedness. When the enemy tells me who I was and what my “destiny” is, I tell him that I am God’s daughter and my future is secure in Christ, and his destiny is destruction.

Dear friend, don’t stand back believing the lie that you can’t rise above the past. Take God at His Word and grab hold of the new life and the new destiny that awaits you in Jesus Christ.

Holy Father, thank you for giving me a new life, a new name, and a new destiny. Thank you for the new lineage of godliness that is mine as Your child. Give me courage to walk forward and leave the past behind me. Amen.