Part of the chain

It’s Christmas in June!  It was time to start a new book in the Bible for my personal study time so I decided to start the Book of Matthew.  It begins with a lengthy list of names, the genealogy of Joseph.  Usually I skip or skim over genealogy - after all I don’t know any of those people!

However, I was just beginning the study and I have a rule that I do at least one verse a day and I don’t skip verses.  So I started a little family tree in my journal.  Some of the names I knew the Bible stories and some were just names. 

In the white space I’d written, “We may not know their stories but each one is important as a link in God’s chain.”

It made me think of a friend who insists upon watching the credits in a movie theater, every single one of the credits.  I’m too impatient.  I leave.  She feels those people made a contribution and deserve to have someone, usually just her, see their name in the credits.

All of the names listed in Matthew chapter 1 made a contribution to the arrival of Jesus on earth.  Each one is an ancestor to Joseph, the man God chose to be Jesus’ earthly father.  All, in a very distant way, had some influence on the family to which Jesus lived his early years.

I picked one name in the list that I didn’t know his story when I read his name, Eliud.  In Matthew 1: 14 & 15, I learn that Eliud is the son of Akim and father of Eleazar.  A little internet research tells me he was four generations from Joseph and that there are “no correlating verses.”  As far as a baby name in modern times, Eliud doesn’t make the top 1000 names but there are 25 Eliuds in LinkedIn!

Eliud means God is help, my helper, has helped, my praise, or grandeur depending on the website.

Even though we may feel like just a name with “no correlating verses”, we are important to God’s work.  I think Eliud takes on a new version of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) to which I can relate.  Every one of us is an Eliud.  A name in the history of God’s work on earth.  Our stories and influence may only be recognized by God but we are very much a part of God’s chain of influence.

A friend often reminds me, “I remember when you said.......”  It always scares me a bit when she says that if it’s on a spiritual matter.  I always hope I said what God wanted and that’s what she remembers.
   
Today, I’m thinking about being an Eliud:

E very act & word
L eads to
I nfluence.
U nknown or known
D o as Jesus would do.