Future

2 Chronicles 33:1-13
Romans 5:1-11
2 Timothy 2:1-13
1 John 1:5-2:6

Have you ever read the Bible book, Chronicles?
No? Didn’t know it existed?
Go give it a try, just a few verses, I dare you!

Families genealogies listed one after the other after the other after the other.
Seemingly an endless jumble of names and syllables mashed haphazardly, but they weren’t random. They were real people representing real stories and real threads in the tapestry of history, yours and mine.

A myriad of names representing countless relationships, marriages, births, flirtatious grins, meals made, loaves baked, sicknesses recovered from, celebrations made much of, and deaths grieved over.

Real people whose threads were woven together to point to one place, the gruesome, humiliating crucifixion, agonizing death, and stunningly, glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not one life was overlooked. Each carried a different place in life, impacted different spheres, and were each knit together with others that, together, they would point to one hill outside the Holy City where the Holy God Man would die for wretched mankind to bring a singular gift, forgiveness.

As I’ve read the Chronicler, I’ve considered my own family recorded by our genealogies.
Chris the son of Tom the son of Gerald Maxwell….
Rebecca the daughter of Lois the daughter of Mary Elizabeth…

All.
Sinners.
Birthing more sinners. 

Of Chris & Rebecca, Hailey, Noah, Hannah, Lydia, Josiah, Elijah whose life was carried from the womb to the Throne of God before they saw his face, but whose impact was seen and known, Isaac, Levi.
Eight.

Each with their own story.
Each an image bearer of the Almighty God.
Each crafted with purpose.
Each deeply connected with those born before and after.

Some names in the Chronicler were attached to descriptors, the famous familial anecdote everyone knew.

Meonothai’s family were craftsmen. (1 Chronicles 4:14)
Jaakobah’s family found rich pasture. (1 Chronicles 4:34-40)
Epher, Ishi, Eliel were famous men, but were unfaithful to God. (1 Chronicles 5:24-25)

If my family was recorded among a blur of names of generations to come,
what would be said of us? What will I be known for?

These questions aren’t far from my thoughts as I stumble to pronounce “Oholibamah”, “Zeriuiah”, and “Jushab-hesed”.
Someday, will someone stumble over my legacy?
Will they trace roots of courageous faith?
Will I be known for faithfulness? 

Ripples cannot be undone, my friends.
Our words will ring in our children’s heads; our actions will come out in their mundane.  

One generation upon the other. 
All sinners.
All lovingly known by the God who
crafted their bodies,
built their minds,
knit together their fingernails,
wove their eyebrows,
painted their freckles,
and died to save their souls.

Whatever my little family is known for, Lord God, I plead, let it not be what was said of Your chosen people, Judah. “And Judah was taken into exile…because of their breach of faith.” (1 Chronicles 9:1, ESV)

I want to be counted as faithful.
Just as I climb upon the rock of self-built dreams and warm feelings to shout,
“I made it because I was determined to be faithful!”,
 the Spirit of God blows with a whisper cutting to my inmost heart,
“You weren’t faithful, Daughter. I AM.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

My pennant flag of self-won victory drops from my hands and I quickly sit,
knowing the Lord spoke truth.

Honestly, what was said of Judah could be my epitaph a thousand times over.
”She had a breach of faith.”
I suck in my breath, high up on that rock because I know it’s true.

“If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make [God] a liar, and His word is not in us.”
(1 John 1:10)

My history intertwines with wayward Judah.
I’ve doubted.

I’ve refused to take God at His Word.
I’ve chosen fear over faith.
I’ve grasped at control.
I’ve screamed at the Lord that He didn’t actually see me, didn’t actually love me, and accused Him of losing control over the universe, or at least, my story. (Exodus 14:11)

The breaches of my faith are wide.
The failures I’ve committed against the Lord are vast.
As tears fall, sobs shake my shoulders, and my head drops, the Lord’s voice comes again with sweet tenderness, “Forgiven.”

The single word comes alive, wrapping my shaking shoulders, applying deep comfort and holding me close to the in and out breaths of the fully human, fully divine Lord Jesus Christ.

“I am writing you these things so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins […].” 
(1 John 2:1-2)

Let me take You at Your word once more; You have paid for my sin.
Let me walk with confidence into tomorrow, knowing my failures have been covered by sacrificial, perfect blood, granting me access to stand in grace upon grace, if I humbly surrender to You. (Romans 5:1-2)

Whatever descriptor stands beside my name, Lord God, I plead, let it include, “She was forgiven because her God remained faithful, even when she was faithless; He carried His Daughter Home.”

“If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9)