Monday
So we are at the beginning of a New Year.
What a whirlwind 2016 seemed to be. There were some pretty significant things that happened in the past year and I know there were some people who experienced some devastating loss and will be happy to see the last of 2016. But for some there was also a lot of joy to be experienced.
As I look over last year I am excited to see that our church is functioning well and we are still in a growth pattern, both in numbers and in spirituality. Those coming to Christ and those deepening their relationship with God.
The first of the year always gives us an opportunity to look over the past and celebrate the accomplishments, and is also gives us the chance to start fresh, wipe the slate clean (so to speak) and put our past mistakes behind us. I don’t know about you, but I always feel a renewed surge of energy and a desire to strive to do better.
We are going to be reading the New Testament together and I applaud your willingness to devote some of your time in doing this. I’ve heard that if you repeat a behavior for 21 days it will become a habit, so I would pray that you will stick with your commitment to reading the Bible on a regular basis and make it a habit in your life. Don’t get discouraged and give up if you fall behind, but instead, just pick up where we are at and start again.
Matthew, the author of our reading for the next month, was one of Jesus’ disciples. He was also known as Levi, the tax collector. You will recall that Jesus is criticized for hanging around such despicable people. Tax collector were Jewish people who had sold out to Roman. Matthew would have been collecting money for the much hated Herod Antipas (another Jew who was in league with the Romans).
So Matthew knew the Scriptures and the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Matthew’s Gospel is directed towards the Jewish people and his purpose in writing is to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. As we read Matthew, be sure to note how many references he makes to the Old Testament prophecies that speak of the Messiah and how Jesus fulfilled them (vs 22) through His birth, life, death and resurrection.
In today’s reading Matthew begins first by giving a detail listing of Jesus’ genealogy, proving that He was a descendent of King David (1:6), and He was born of a virgin (1:18 – Isaiah 7:14). Matthew was like a Lee Strobel (author of A Case For Christ) in that he wanted to present his case before the Jewish people and prove that Christ was, without a doubt, the only one who could have fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah.
One other thing I wanted to note for today’s reading, was just how amazing this couple was that God chose to be the earthly parents of Jesus. Joseph was such a good man. He could have had Mary publicly stoned for what He conceived to be her act of adultery, but instead he just wanted to quietly set her aside. And when he found out what was really happening, he embraced the task set out before him to raise God’s own Son. Can you even begin to imagine what that must have been like for him? The enormous responsibility that would lay on his shoulders? I wonder if Jesus “learned” anything from his father, Joseph?
So I guess my take away for today is that we never know what “mission” God might send us on, but I pray that like Joseph, I won’t be afraid to follow God’s path and do what He has called me to do.
Shalom