We can too easily forget the magnitude and breadth of our faith. None of us are insignificant. We are part of a long history of relationships with God, first established with Abraham and continuing to the present. That relationship revealed its fullness in the person of Jesus Christ. 

Every act of our faithfulness to the Lord can be traced back to a night when Jacob had a dream as he followed the calling on his life that began with the faith of Abraham.

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring’”(Genesis 28:12-14).

When Jacob awoke from his dream, he declared, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” (vs. 16). The stairway represents the presence of the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ. Only through Him would access to Heaven be offered to all people who were willing to believe His message.

When Matthew wrote out a very detailed record of the historic followers of God beginning with Abraham, he described his record this way, “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Matthew detailed all the people involved in successive generations of faith leading up the arrival of Jesus the Messiah.

“All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah” (Matthew 1:17). 

No believer that is included in this expanding record of faith is insignificant. All who choose to believe in Jesus become part of an increasing lineage of faith that continues to grow with each passing day.  An understanding of our lineage and its significance, and our part in that lineage, will change how we live this life. Only those who understand their significance will be able to live a life of faith. Understanding that significance will change everything.