Bloodlines used to mean a great deal in society. Many a Regency-era romance involves a highborn person who falls hopelessly in love with someone who is wonderful and kind, but off-limits because of their low birth. Even now we speak of someone being from “a good family.”
I’ve often been curious about my ancestry, but I’ve never investigated how to research family history. I don’t know much about relatives who lived before my grandparents. It’s fun to hear others talk about what kind of people they came from. Well-thought of ancestors can make us feel good about ourselves. But it’s embarrassing to find out we come from a criminal or some otherwise unfavorable lineage.
Recently someone reminded me of John Harper, one of the men on the Titanic who died in the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. He was a Scottish pastor who spent his last hours clinging to wreckage from the ship, sharing the gospel with everyone within earshot, refusing rescue so others who weren’t ready to die could have more time to be saved.
I think one of my husband’s relatives once told us we were related to John Harper. I found myself hoping we were, as if something of his character could rub off on our family through his bloodline.
In Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot, she shared this from her grandfather, Philip E. Howard, from his book, Father and Son:
Do you remember that encouraging word of Thomas Fuller’s, a chaplain of Oliver Cromwell’s time? It’s a good passage for a father in all humility and gratitude to tuck away in his memory treasures:
Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.
Rehoboam begat Abijah; that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
Abijah begat Asa; that is, a bad father begat a good son.
Asa begat Jehoshaphat; that is, a good father begat a good son.
Jehoshaphat begat Joram; that is, a good father begat a bad son.
I see, Lord, from hence that my father’s piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.
A godly heritage is a blessing in many ways, but godliness isn’t passed through our bloodlines. The family we come from doesn’t guarantee heaven for us. We can’t coast on their faith. We have to repent of sin and believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord for ourselves. We need to read and love His Word and develop our own personal relationship with Him.
A bad family is a problem in many ways, but it doesn’t doom us for life and eternity. God’s grace is available to all who will receive it.
Genealogies have a purpose in the Bible, but not as a predictor of who will or won’t believe on the Lord.
It’s not whose blood flows through our veins that determines our characters or our destiny. It’s whose blood flowed on the cross.
None of us is highborn in a spiritual sense. We’re all sinners to some degree. Some are worse than others, but we’re all sinful enough to receive hell.
Only the sinless Son of God could live a life of perfect righteousness before His Father. How amazing that He took our sinfulness on Himself so His righteousness would count for us. What a wonderful Savior to love us even when we were His enemies and sacrifice so much so we could be saved and transformed.
(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)
Stray Thoughts 
I hope my review of Dr. Thorne helped inspire this post! Excellent and true thoughts! I know genealogical information about my ancestors back to the Revolutionary war and beyond, but really don’t know what their personality was like or their spiritual status. (It makes you realize and come to terms with the fact your legacy here will be forgotten in 2 generations.) There was so much (and still is) so much cultural Christianity in the South that I’m not sure how many truly understood the gospel. I definitely can’t rest on any ancestral laurels.
:). No, I hadn’t thought about Doctor Thorne, but the plot fits! This post started with reading again about John Harper and finding myself wishing we were related to him, then remembering his character couldn’t be transmitted through his bloodline. One thought led to another, and here we are.
I also didn’t think about this post possibly connecting with Grandparents Day until about five minutes after I hit “publish.”
I’ve been thinking about legacy a lot as we’ve gone through old boxes this summer. My kids aren’t all that interested in family history–but then again, I wasn’t either until I was a little older. By that time, most of the relatives who could have answered questions were gone. I’m at a loss to know what to do with the few historical things I do have. But then I remember that within another generation or two, probably no one will care about any of it.
I am concerned about many who think they are Christians because they grew up in a Christian family and culture, yet they’ve never come to know the Lord personally.
And as someone who didn’t grow up in a Christian home, I am thankful God can save anyone!
It is very tricky deciding what and how much to keep! I’m reading a
wonderful biography of George Washington right now full of original
source quotes, so I’m so happy someone saved all this! But, of course,
most of us are not George Washington. LOL. I answered the question for
myself by keeping one 3 ring binder of documents per person I care
about. Can’t keep all the boxes of school papers my Mom saved! I just
kept a representative few.
Yes, I’m concerned too about the cultural Christianity. I never ran into
it in my 36 years in AZ – it seemed no one went to church there out of
habit or duty. But here in South Carolina, we run into it a lot – people
are in the same church their ancestors were in literally 200 years ago,
the same last names are in the cemetery out in front of the church, etc.
People are still in the church directory after not attending for a
decade because Mama wants them in there. We changed churches obviously!
True. Family or relations can only be an influence to lead us to Jesus. Never thought of it as an analysis of who is our bloodline, but we still stand alone in our decisions about Christianity. I like the part about one bad bloodline, doesn’t mean that the children will automatically become bad. Thanks for sharing on this Sunday.
Thank you, Peabea. I like that phrase about standing alone in our decisions about Christ. Others can influence one way or another, but ultimately the new birth is an interaction between us and Him individually.
I know quite a bit about my family line back to my great-grandparents, but only generally about their generation and one or two generations before. I would be very interested in finding out more, but I also won’t spend money on it. haha. A heritage of believers is such a blessing, but we each must make our own choice whether to belong to the family of God. How wonderful that we are all invited to belong, and that Jesus’ blood can be applied to all who believe.
Barbara, this is such a well written post. I enjoy genealogy and know some about some of my ancestors, but as you pointed out, it isn’t the blood that flows through our veins that determines our character…it’s the blood that flowed from the cross. Thank you so much for such a thoughtful post.
My mom is very into genealogy and is very proud of her “roots,” loving to point out this or that doctor or lawyer, etc. I always think things like you’ve written here though: we can’t really ride the coattails of our “good” ancestors, any more than we have to endure/pass on the traits of the “bad” ones too. Good thoughts!
I was able to trace my maternal family back several centuries. It satisfies my curiosity but since I don’t (or didn’t) know any of them, I don’t recognize how any of their traits could be evident in me.
I agree that the blood line I most am connected with is the blood line of the Savior. His blood is what defines me today. Great post.
“It’s not whose blood flows through our veins that determines our characters or our destiny. It’s whose blood flowed on the cross.” Amen!
I love this post, Barbara. For a long time, I was interested in researching my ancestry. I imagined what cool things I would find. But as an adult over the years, I’ve come to learn new things about some of my relatives that weren’t good. Then I realized how much I’d romanticized the whole thing. I haven’t really been interested in it since. But your post is so encouraging—especially this line: “It’s not whose blood flows through our veins that determines our characters or our destiny. It’s whose blood flowed on the cross.” Thank you for this.
I enjoyed the observations on the good and bad kings and am reminded of Cain and Abel. They had the same parents. Both are remembered in the NT but for very different reasons.
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