Family tree

I am speaking now to you Gentiles: as long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my work. Perhaps I can make the people of my own race jealous, and so be able to save some of them. For when they were rejected, all other people were changed from God’s enemies into his friends. What will it be, then, when they are accepted? It will be life for the dead! (verses I 3-15)

Read Romans 11:13-24

When we went to the UK ten years ago, my wife spent a lot of time interviewing relatives in an attempt to compile a family tree. I admire her interest in our family history and have been fascinated with the results of her research.

Family history is important. It helps you understand your genealogical roots. As members of God’s family, you have a spiritual family tree. God has given you an ancestor in Israel. Through faith in his word, you have been grafted into a godly heritage. That means the story contained in the Bible is also your story. The blessings, the promises, all the saving work that God performed for Israel were carried out with you in mind! You are part of an ancient family tree, a family that will be remembered forever in heaven.

Dear Father in heaven, bless your people Israel, and bring them at last to life from the dead through faith in the Messiah, Jesus, your Son and my Saviour. Amen.

by Simon Cooper, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

Visit the Daily Devotion archives page.