No One Lives in Isolation

by Jerry Bullock

My mother was a student of genealogy. She and her sister traced one line in our family back to the surety barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. She was a member of the UDC, the DAR, and the Grand Dames of the Magna Carta. She loved to tell about some of the things that happen as these worthies gather in conclave.

For instance, there was the time a very pompous lady was bragging to another that her family was traced back to King John. "How far back does your family go, my dear?" she asked the little lady next to her at the table. "I don't know," was the sheepish reply. "The records were lost in the flood."

The Apostle Paul wrote "For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself." Man cannot live in isolation. He will affect others even if he should attempt to live as a hermit in a cave. First of all, man cannot isolate himself from his past. Your ancestors may have been peasants or kings, but ultimately all of our records did get lost in the flood.

We are a part of those who have gone before us. I have been told that I sound like my father when I talk. I know I have many of his mannerisms and often hear him speaking in things I say. Many of these characteristics, I suspect, could be traced back to his father and grandfather.

So, we cannot live isolated from the past. Neither can we isolate ourselves from the present. Everything that we do affects someone else. Often we make people happy or sad just by the expressions on our faces. A word spoken in the wrong place or at the wrong time can never be retracted. Every salesman knows that each client he calls upon can influence as many as 250 or more other people to buy or not to buy his product. From every deed will arise consequences and the scriptures say that these consequences will go from us down through many generations.

So, neither can we isolate our selves from the future. William Barclay said, "As a man receives life so he hands life on." Each individual is a link in the chain of life. We have the opportunity to leave our mark for good. Nevertheless, we will leave our mark.

Let me finish the quotation from Paul. This passage is taken from Romans14:7-9. He continued, "If we live, we live to the Lord. Whether we live or die we belong to the Lord. It is for this purpose that Christ died and rose to life again...that He might be the Lord of the living and the dead."

I find real comfort in that. As the Apostle did I too can put behind the things that are past and with confidence in my salvation press on to win the crown.