FAMILY TREES By Sally Ireland Kennedy

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ... Ephesians 1:4-5

This month our family, like many others, plan to gather for family reunions. A special time for members of the same family tree to get together,catch up, share past stories, and see how the kids have grown. Some folks don’t have other opportunities to visit in between the reunions, except perhaps at weddings or funerals. It’s an wonderful time for families, and the memories priceless.

A few friends of mine are deep in the branches of their family trees.
I’ve heard of people doing this in preparation for a family reunion,
too. Thanks to my mom and a relative of my dad’s, we have family tree records going back many generations on one side and the early 1800’s on the other. I treasure the information and have passed it on to my children.

Discovering our earthly geneologies can be interesting. Yet nothing can compare to our spiritual heritage. As believers, we share the same family tree and are all children of the patriarch, Abraham. (Romans 11:17 And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in)

Not only are we children of Abraham, in Christ we are children of our Father God. As believers, we are adopted by Him, making us members of His glorious, redemptive family tree. (John 1:12 to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God) (Romans 8:15-17 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.)

We may never learn our family tree here, yet the amazing thing is we know we are a part of, and have, the most amazing family tree that could ever be - all recorded in God’s word.

That is good news.