blood line

I've been reading in 1 Chronicles lately as I go through the One Year Bible, and I've been wondering why all the genealogies are listed there. What can it mean to me as a Christian? Why did God put all those names (the famous or perhaps infamous "begats") in there? What importance could it have to us today?

Perhaps the importance is not the individual members of the family trees that are listed there (although I did find my son's name, which is Jadon, in a list of similar names in Nehemiah), but in the idea of the family tree itself. The idea of the blood line, and when I use this phrase, "blood line," I am thinking specifically of how we are related to other Christians and even to our Saviour through His blood. All Christians, in fact, belong to the same family, the same blood line.

I know that I can look up the meanings of all the different names in the genealogies, and perhaps draw some ssignificance from those meanings, but for now, I think I'll contemplate the blood line. What it means to be related to Christ, how I am cleansed by His blood, and how those who are similarly cleansed are related to me. It's a wonderful thing knowing I am a part of that wide family of God, of those who love the Lord Jesus and who are saved by His death on the cross.

Now, when I come across one of those long list of names in a chapter in my reading, I have a new perspective. They are not some verses to be skipped over to get to the important part, they are the important part.