Spiritual Ancestors

Abraham is one of those Biblical characters who stands like a giant on the pages of the Holy Word as well as in the stories of the people who walk in his shadow.  When Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Christians, he acknowledges the primary role he has for the Jewish people.  In the very first verse of chapter four which is largely devoted to this ancient man of faith, he wrote, "...Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh."  And, of course, he would go on to declare that Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of all who claim righteousness by faith in Christ.      

Paul declared that all who walk the righteous way are spiritual descendants of Abraham.  What we also realize is that we have many who are remembered as our spiritual ancestors.  At the top of the list for many of us are our mothers and fathers, our grandparents, or some other family member who modeled faith in Christ in such a way as to impact our living to this day.  For them we are deeply grateful.  But, there are also many others whose DNA we do not bear, yet, who touched our life at a key moment when our faith was ready to be birthed, or perhaps, in a critical moment of growth.     

As we remember our spiritual ancestors with much gratitude, it is important to remember that the life we live in the present moment is impacting the generations which follow us.  It is not just the generation we can see, but also the unseen generation waiting in the invisible realm to be conceived and born into this life by our Creator God.  Even as we count those in our past as our spiritual ancestors, so should we look ahead into the unseen realm and know that one day we will be counted as the spiritual ancestor of one on the journey of faith.