By Faith. . .

After they left, I settled into my chair and wondered, what history will we leave behind? As a small group, we had been looking at the first chapter Daniel. An interesting character to say the least. You may remember the lion’s den and the fiery furnace. He was not to be their dinner that night or in need of the burn unit at a hospital. As I leafed through the rest of the book of Daniel, I began to wonder about all the history found, not only in the bible, but in all the history books ever written. But let’s stay with the bible just to humour me.
We start with the first one. Here is Adam, who actually had conversations with God becoming lonely. I ask, “Would God have been enough company for me?” Or how about Cain and Abel? Would jealousy ever rear its ugly head in my relationship with my brother? Would I have listened to a voice in a burning bush that was never consumed by the fire? Would I see this as God or just a apparition?
There are so many stories in the bible. They include not only the Kings of many nations, but administrators, prophets, judges, fishermen, prostitutes, beggars and outcasts of society. All have their story and all of us have three things in common.
First, we are all born which includes our family. I wonder what the parents in the bible thought about when they first laid eyes on their new born child. Moses mom may have thought, don’t get attached as the government is going to kill him anyway. Or did she think, this boy will one day lead us out of slavery. What was going through the mind of David’s rich farmer father Jesse when Samuel showed up looking for a heifer to sacrifice to God?
The second thing we have in common is the influence we have on other people. Parents, “train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are older, they will . . . ” Many of us believe it is our God given right to tell our children what to do and be. The problem is we try to direct our children into a profession we missed out on. We always wanted to be a. . . so we encourage our children in that same direction. Doesn’t work. Farmer David wrote poetry and played the guitar. Jesse probably wanted him to take over part of the farm. Or how about Eli encouraging his sons to become priests, didn’t turn out well, they both died the same day as their dad and a son was born and given the name, “The glory is departed from Israel.” Not the best name to carry for the rest of your life. Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song about Sue.
This is not what God meant. He wanted us to train our children in proper living including respect of others. Just read last week of some Tim Horton’s staff dreading lunch time when students are coming in. They are described as rude, disrespectful, noisy, disruptive and foul mouthed. It is so bad at some places close to schools that students are now banned from these fast food outlets during school hours. If you have watched “Brat Boot Camp” you know what I mean.
Lastly, we have what we leave behind. All of the stories we read in the bible happened at least 1940 years ago. And we are still reading them and getting something out of them. We hear of suffering and pain. We relate to others before us who suffered abandonment and cried tears over children and parents. Please also note there are amazing stories of being lead in the right direction as with Boaz and Ruth. And then there is Samuel’s mom coming to see him once a year and the hugs and tears of those visits. Happy tears. So many stories of triumph and as the bible says, “We are more then conqueror,” Rom. 8:37.
We have a heritage we leave behind. Will we be remembered as people of faith? I want each of you to remember that you are leaving something behind. What will people remember you for? We are all part of God’s story. Part of God’s history in this world. If He were writing the bible today, would our life story be part of it? And if it was, would we be the example of God’s love and example, or would He be using our story to warn others of what not to do?
Only you can answer that. And God writes, “and they were . . . Or could our names be placed in a passage like Heb. 11, “By faith . . . Something to think about.
Rob