Thoughts: A product of the past

Here is a thought I had today as I paced the halls of the church whilst I avoided preparing for the cell group I was leading tonight. (Don't worry I did in the end and, praise be to God, I thoroughly enjoyed it as always.)

I am a product of the past. Yes I can choose how I live but it is because of the people before me that I have followed, or not followed, in some way that I am who I am.

My faith is also a product of the past:
my parents sneaking out to church amidst feat of punishment to learn the truths they would one day pass down to me
my dad reading stories and praying for me, caring for me and living by example
my Sunday school teachers who played cheesy children’s songs and made me glue bits of cotton wool and colour in rainbows
a youthworker that despite always being busy was passionate about serving and teaching us
friends who grew up with me praying the same prayers and asking the same questions
the many great forefathers who fought and suffered that God's purpose would be fulfilled and His kingdom expand enough that it would one day encompass me
those that write books and speak sermons
the first apostles
Jesus

It all leads back to God, He is the beginning of the chain, the link that is holding the rest of us up. He has revealed to many the glory of His name and from him many chains branch out, and from them more still, and from the subsequent more still. Many righteous people passed down their faith to others and allowed them to explore and grasp it for themselves.

One of these chains has lead to me and if you are a Christian one leads to you too, and we should both count ourselves wholly blessed. But yet there are some of these chains that dangle, attached only at one end, some that never seized the opportunities to share their prize, never new the joy of leading a friend to joy and to peace.

It would have been possible for me to remain free and to sway the way I choose without consideration for others but now knowing what I do that no longer remains an option. I have to reach out and connect with those that I love, those that I encounter everyday, I must at least try. Like a branch that sprouts more branches I have to grow in strength and breadth that I may support new believers and continue the chain that leads to the Father of Creation.

Will you choose the same or will you opt out and forever close a route to God that has been successful in bringing the gospel forward for over 2000 years and indeed eternity?