Monday
As I read over the list I recognized many of the names and thought about the part that each one played in the history of God’s people. Not all of them were righteous, obedient and godly. As a matter of fact, many of them committed some pretty serious sins. Even the righteous ones had their weak moments and broke God’s laws. But as I looked over that list, I also see the love God continues to show for His children in order to bring us to this point, where we are introduced to the Messiah, the long-awaited Messiah. We also read the names of five women who also had a role in this ancestry. Do you how God often uses ordinary people to carry out His divine purpose?
In Matthew’s Christmas story, we see the dilemma that Joseph finds himself in. He wants to do what is right, and so he just planning on quietly setting her aside. Actually, by law, he had the right to have her stoned to death, but I (being the romantic that I am) feel that he truly loved her and was very hurt by what he thought she had done to him. And then he is visited by an Angel. Of course this convinces him of the truth of her pregnancy and he is given the awesome responsibility of raising the Son of God. I wonder how much influence Joseph had on Jesus in those early years? After all, we will read about Jesus being tempted, would his earthly father’s training help him in making the right decisions?
Luke tells us about Mary and Joseph having to go to Bethlehem to be counted in a census and again, prophecy is being fulfilled by Jesus begin born in this little village. We read about the angels and the shepherds
Again, we see that God uses very ordinary people (even those who are despised and looked down upon) to be among the first to witness this great miracle.
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” Luke 2:20.
Ordinary people sharing the good news. We must never think that we don’t matter to God, no matter where we are in our lives, we only need to look at the people He has used over the years to know that he has a plan for us too.
Blessings on the day!
Pastor Kathy