Sunday, 01 November 2009

• Ancestry and God's Purpose

  Some people are embarrassed of their ancestors.
  
  The Joneses were proud of their family tradition. Their ancestors had come to America on the Mayflower. They had included Senators and Wall Street wizards. They decided to compile a family history, a legacy for their children and grandchildren. They hired a fine author. Only one problem arose—how to handle that great-uncle George, who was executed in the electric chair. The author said he could handle the story tactfully. The book appeared. It said "Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock."
  
  It would have been awfully tempting to show Yeshua (Jesus) as a decendant of fine, upstanding people. Matthew is careful to remind us that the people in the line of Jesus were in fact quite flawed:
  
  Tamar did some pretty questionable things.
  Rahab was a prostitute.
  Ruth was a foreigner.
  Bathsheba was an adulterer.
  
  What lessons can we learn from this?
  God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines.
  
  You may feel at times that you've done things to disqualify you from God ever loving you.  Wrong!
  You may feel that God could never use a person like you.  Wrong!
  You may feel that your family is so goofed up, nothing good could ever come from it.  Wrong!
  
  No matter what your family may be like YHVH can use you.
  No matter the things you may have done in the past YHVH can use you.
  
  YHVH has a purpose for you.

  Do you ever get discouraged about your purpose or ancestry?

  • 10:42 AM
  • 452 Views
  • 8 eProps
  • 5 Comments