I thought I might do a little something, this year, that would help me focus on what this season is really about, and maybe it could help you, too. I’m going to take the story of Jesus’s birth, found in Luke 2, and go verse by verse, 1 through 24, to see what happens. Here we go…
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ~ Luke 2:4 NIV
Ah, David.
King David, to be precise, ruler of Israel.
As it turns out, both Joseph and Mary were from the line of David (her lineage described later in Luke), which, of course, means that Jesus, Himself, was descended from the line of the king who was a “man after God’s own heart.”
He was also an adulterer and a murderer.
In fact, the lineage of Christ is filled with more of the same, including a prostitute named Rahab. While it might seem ridiculous that the Savior of the world and the Son of God would be descended from such a motley crew, it really shouldn’t. Not when you consider that His mother was human. Flawed. Born with a sinful nature like every other beating heart on this broken planet.
The thing is, David was given that incredible description by God Himself. God, who knew David’s heart inside and out. So why would He call a person who made colossal mistakes a man after His own heart?
Because David was humble, reverent, completely devoted, trusting, faithful, obedient, and perhaps most of all…repentant. We ALL screw up, ladies and gentlemen. But we ALL have the ability, the opportunity, to be given the same extraordinary title by the same extraordinary God. It just takes a lot of humility and the ability to admit that we can’t save ourselves from ourselves.
If we admit that, then we become part of that same lineage, part of the house of a flawed but faithful king, and coheirs with a PERFECTLY FAITHFUL KING.
I don’t know about you, but that gives me a lot of hope, considering I’m a mess most of the time.
Messy, but His.
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:8 ESV
Melinda this is so good!! I love your statement ” Messy but His”. I have written in my bible, it’s not who you are but WHOSE you are that matters!!