For some reason, one of the immediate thoughts that comes to mind when I hear the word legacy is an idealized future of fruitfulness and life that is somehow untouched by sin. The problem with this is that legacies are received by and lived out by imperfect people. Nonetheless, this week I was tempted to focus only on certain stories from the biblical narratives. For example, I wanted to stay at Genesis 24, especially the ending where we are directly told that Isaac loved Rebekah and was comforted after his mother’s death. I didn’t want to think about the trickery and pain that later characterized their marriage and the lives of their sons.
I realized I needed to sit with the fact that Abraham’s legacy includes lots of stories, and indeed, people who frustrate me because while these people who receive Abraham’s legacy are imperfect, God still acknowledges and uses them as part of the legacy He gifted to Abraham. Even though many of the stories are not fun to read, the very fact that they document the lives of broken people is a profoundly hopeful thing: These people have issues, but they are still loved by God and used by him in the story of the redemption of the world.
When tempted to fix our eyes on our broken pasts and dwell too long on our current struggles with sin, this perspective can free us: we are still living in the legacy Abraham left (himself imperfect), and we can move the dwelling of our minds to our Savior – not denying our issues, but looking to Him instead of to them for our identity and future.