Daily Devotional for Thursday, December 26

Children of Faith Children of Abraham

"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham;' Galatians 3:7.

How important is your heritage to you? Part of my ancestry is Native American. More specifically, we are part of the Cherokee Indian tribe. I can remember when I was a child how my mother embraced that ancestry. She constructed Native American headdresses and garments and collected artifacts like arrowheads. She was so proud of her heritage that she traveled to local schools to present lessons on Cherokee tribal history. She was very proud of her origin and her ancestors.

The Jews were very proud of their lineage as well. They embraced the Hebrew patriarchs, like Abraham, Moses and David. They also were often identified by their tribal lineage. Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5). Just as I am proud of my parents and grandparents and other ancestors, biblical Jews were devoted to their heritage.

Abraham was faithful to God, and his faithfulness "was accounted to him for righteousness" (Galatians 3:6). Jesus Christ was the promised Seed of Abraham, and Abraham trusted that God would deliver on that promise, "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through thelaw,but through therighteousness of faith" (Romans 4:13). The Jewish people saw themselves as the children of Abraham simply because of blood lineage, while Paul proved that the children of faith are also children of Abraham because the Seed of promise came through Abraham. You andI are "children of Abraham," not because we are Jews by blood, but because of Jesus, who "washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Revelation 1:5). Our bloodlines cannot save us; we are saved by the blood of the Lamb. Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?

JUST A THOUGHT

Your lineage will not get you into Heaven. My mother is in Heaven because she is a child of God, not because of her ancestry.

Chris Floyd