Our True Heritage

Every once in a blue moon, I might mention my Scottish ancestry.

But truthfully - I could barely care less.

As Christians, our heritage is not found in the tangled branches of a “family tree”, but rather in the true vine of Christ Himself.

Scripture tells us that we are “heirs with Christ,” and this is a real thing, friends! It is an inheritance that is eternal, incorruptible, and untouched by the brokenness or blessing of earthly lineage.

To hyper-fixate on ancestry, particularly when it becomes even a small means of self-definition, is to miss the heart of the gospel.

Ancestry can be a fun trifle. Maybe it helps us honor those who came before us and maybe it helps us notice patterns that might (but do not have to) shape our lives.

But when attention to ancestry and the discovery of remote “family ties” becomes any sort of a main focus, it can become a means of excusing years of self-centered behavior.

There comes a point when it begins to drift toward narcissism. A fascination with our earthly lineage can easily overshadow the far greater reality that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Christ offers us a new center. He takes our family histories, our self-absorption, and He places us instead in His story.

We are invited to live, not out of our DNA, but out of His Spirit. Our heritage in Christ is a call to humility, to wholeness, and to freedom. To cling too tightly to earthly ancestry is to risk building identity on sand.

To root ourselves in Christ is to build on the rock that will not move.