The Begats in My Life
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons [and daughters] of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12.
Whenever I read my Bible I am always tempted to just skip the “begats.” I’m sure most of you know what I mean. “And Abraham begat Isaac . . .” and on down the line. I’ve always had a difficult time getting through those parts of the Bible. But that was before I got into genealogy.
For some time now one of the genealogy commercial web sites has sent me enticing offers to try out their site for free for 14 full days. I managed to ignore their generous offer for about six months, but then I succumbed and began searching to see what I could find. Since most of my family has been gone for many years, I thought, They won’t have anything on my family; they weren’t famous, or anything. However, much to my amazement, I found family trees for both of my grandmothers. One dates back to Scotland, and the other back to England. At that moment I was hooked. I even began to appreciate all the begats in the Bible for the first time. Just as it was important to the Jewish people to be able to trace their ancestry, I was fascinated with what I was finding about my own family. I am still finding precious gems about where I came from as I search. Since my mother passed away when I was only 4, it is like finding her again.
We know that pedigrees are important when it comes to purebred dogs, cats, and livestock, and some think it very important to know the backgrounds of people. While I’m enjoying finding my own roots, I believe that the most important kind of roots is to know that I am a daughter of the living God and a sister to His Son, who came and died for me. Ultimately, we are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, and heirs of the kingdom.
My prayer for you today, dear reader, is that you will accept that precious gift that God the Father, and His Son, and the Holy Spirit offers to you: to be His child, and live with Him in His kingdom when He comes to take us home.
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