"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about:
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they
came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as
your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
-Matthew 1:18-21
After deciding to read the Christmas story in my devotional time this morning, God absolutely gave me a new and timely perspective on this passage that definitely speaks to situations in my life and I'm sure that it will hit home with many others and their current situation in life as well.
As we all know, the mother Mary has been heralded and raised up to a place of prominence over the centuries, and in some instances, falling just short of practically being deity. No doubt, Mary deserves to be admired and revered for her faith and obedience not to mention the strength it took to watch her own son be brutally tortured and murdered. Mary, while not deserving of the place of prominence that some evangelicals have given her, definitely should be considered a great example of what we should strive for as Christians.
After reading the above passage this morning however, I was left with one resounding question - What about Joseph? Have we really put aside our joyful Christmas spirit and looked past the sheer awe and wonder that the Christmas Story brings to look at it through the lens of real life? We need to remember that the real world, with all of its real issues and problems and yes -people, with all of their real people-problems and attitudes and mindsets is where this miraculous story took place.
And if there is anything that God has taught me over the last year it would be this - That when God gets ready to do something miraculous it usually follows a format, and the format is this - a period of extreme messiness will always precede God's miraculous. It doesn't really make sense but I know it with everything within me to be true and the Bible backs it up. For instance - God parted the Red Sea. Miraculous, right? Yes. But why? Because instead of the Egyptians just walking out of Egypt and that being that, God decided he would cause it to get "messy". Exodus tells us that God deliberately hardened Pharaoh's heart one last time so he would chase the Israelites down and kill them. Of course, we know that God showed up and did the miraculous by parting the Red Sea. You see, God always allows things to get messy before he intervenes with the miraculous because in this way - His name receives so much more glory!
The Christmas story, particularly this part of it, is no different.
I love how the scripture says "This is how the birth of Jesus came about". In other words, it's basically telling us that God could have chosen to do this any way He wanted but He chose to do it in this specific way. This is meaningful seeing as the way in which God chose to do it is certainly anything but normal or convenient.
All of this takes place while Joseph and Mary are still engaged and in that culture, people getting pregnant before they were married was a definite end to any engagement and almost a certain death sentence. That's right, I said death.
Really God? I mean you couldn't have waited a few more months until you heard the Wedding Bells?? I mean think about it - Mary and Joseph get married, go on the Honey Moon and come back with faces aglow, waiting to tell everybody that they're pregnant with Child!! Sounds perfect, right? God doesn't do this, though. God does what He has always done and carries out His will and plans in a way that the prideful of heart and those who cling to common sense will never be able to grasp. He moves in such a way to where if you don't have faith - you don't get to see His glory and His miracles.
We all know that it took faith from Mary to accept what God was showing her would happen but the person I want to point out is Joseph.
While Mary has received a visitation from an Angel, Joseph gets left with a visit from Mary telling him that she's pregnant, get this - by the Holy spirit. While Mary is inwardly rejoicing at being chosen for such a miracle, Joseph is wondering where he went wrong for his future wife to want to cheat on him. Mary is right in the middle of a great move of God, Joseph is seemingly in the middle of the greatest hurt and shame he has ever felt. Joseph at this moment, was as clueless to what God was doing as a perfect stranger would've been.
God chose Mary for a miracle but He entrusted Joseph with pain and hurt. He knew not everyone could handle the pain and hurt like He would need Joseph to.You see, Joseph was chosen by God too. The passage tells us that because Joseph was a good and faithful man, he sought for a way to split ways with Mary quietly, not so much because he didn't want to be shamed because of her being pregnant but because he didn't want her to be stoned to death. Joseph loved Mary with all of his heart...but Joseph didn't believe Mary. He didn't believe what Mary had told him about the Angel appearing and how she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and not another man. If he had believed her, then he would not want to leave her.
The truth is Joseph got caught right in the middle of a move of God that he never asked for and is now being asked to believe in something that he seemingly has no part in.
I think many times those who are in our lives, those who are closest to us and care a great deal about us seemingly get caught right in the middle of what God is doing in our lives. Not by accident, but because God intended for them to be a part of it. The only problem is that often times while you know and can sense exactly what God is doing- they are often hurt and confused, not having a clue as to what is happening. This was Joseph. He didn't have a clue that he had been chosen to be part of something that was much bigger than what it seemed to be at the moment. Yet, Joseph still loved Mary and still wanted what was best for her in spite of his hurt and pain.
God eventually sent an Angel to Joseph and opened His eyes to what was really going on and that Mary had indeed told him the truth. He told Joseph to not be afraid. The truth is, this was real life, with consequences (good or bad) to every choice they made. Joseph indeed must have been afraid and not sure of what to do.
Many times, those around us are afraid because the move of God in our lives is majorly effecting and changing their life. They are often afraid, worried and upset because they don't see what God has shown us and they feel like we have said and done the things we have without reason or rhyme.
Like I said before- God always allows situations to get messy before He makes the miraculous happen. He does this, as I said to bring even more glory to His name but also to build faith in those who are seemingly caught in the crossfire of God's plans for you. he wants them to see that they are not just "casualties of war" but that He intended for them to be part of His plan in your life all along.
I think we owe it to ourselves as believers to take a closer look at the Christmas story each time we read it and marvel at Joseph's loyalty and love for his fiance as much as we marvel at the faith and obedience of Mary.
"How can you think of saying, 'Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye."- Luke 6:42.
Over the past several weeks God has been teaching me how to truly love people as he does. This has been something that I have struggled with my entire life because I never really had God's love modeled for me to even know the right way to love someone. Wait, let me take that back - there is no right or wrong way to love someone. You either love them or you don't.
I say this not because I don't think that there aren't people out there who honestly have good intentions toward people and are trying to love their family, friends, and significant others as best they know how. I should know because I was one of these people trying my best most of the time - yet failing miserably. There is not a wrong way and a right way to love people. There is only one way to love and that is loving people as God does and trust me, He knows how to love people because He wrote the book on it, He invented it...Heck, He IS love!
If we don't allow the author of love to teach us how to truly love others then we will never know what real love is or how to give this love to others. This is what God says true love is...
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
If we don't connect ourselves with the love of God and allow Him to love us and teach us how to truly love others then we will be without the very force that God says will remain after everything else is a distant memory -love.
So, what happens when we don't have a knowledge of or don't practice love in its true form as seen in the passage above? We are left with "like". The funny thing about "like" is that most people see it as just a step below love. You know how it goes - When a couple first starts dating "like" is the term they use when wanting to show affection until they both feel they've been together long enough to say "I love you". It's the term used in new but promising friendships. My point is that like is often viewed as the precursor to love.
The truth is, though, that love is pure and holy while "like" is fickle, shallow, and is nothing more than a reaction to situations and people that are constantly changing. Liking something or someone is nothing more than the momentary feeling we as humans have when something pleases our senses. THIS is what we are left with as people if we don't know how to love.
Ever wonder why the divorce rate is so high? Because people don't know how to love. They only know how to like. They don't realize this because liking something can be a very strong and convincing feeling and emotion. After all, isn't that how we're told by society to know when we truly love someone? They tell us "you'll feel it". Like is a human emotion but love is a gift from God that allows you to love someone regardless of what you're emotions are telling you. If we only have the ability to like and don't know how to truly love people then we become fickle and as the verse says at the beginning of this post - we become hypocrites who constantly point out "specks" in those we're trying our best to love.
There are some people that just seem to derive pleasure out of going around and pointing out the flaws in anyone they run into, even if they don't know them. These flaws or "specks" are the issues that they perceive the other person needs to fix in their life. For the most part though, I've realized that we point out specks the most in those who we are closest to or cherish the most.
You see, if you truly care about someone and are trying to love them yet you only know how to like them, this means that how you feel about them and your happiness with them as a person is completely and totally dependent upon their words and actions. If they are saying and doing the right things - you're happy with them. Then they do something that you can't stand and instantly those feelings you felt about them five minutes earlier are rapidly disappearing. As I said, "Like" is a fickle emotion. This leads to us constantly trying to fix the other person so they will be exactly as we need them to be or think they should be because it's only then that they will become acceptable to us. Acceptable as our friend, acceptable as a family member or acceptable as a boyfriend or as a wife.
People pick specks because they are unaware of the only force that can make the specks invisible -love. The funny thing about a speck is that specks are extremely small, you'd have to be extremely close to someone to see a speck in their eye. This is what people who only know how to "like" and not love people make a living doing.
Because "like" is such a fickle emotion, it cannot endure people's bad habits, flaws and imperfections. So tragically, people that only know how to "like" spend their entire time getting closer and closer, always subconsciously looking for yet dreading the moment when they find the speck in the other person. This speck can't be tolerated by those who only know how to "like". Only true love covers imperfections and flaws- so in order for us to continue liking someone or to start liking someone, we must tell them of their speck and demand they deal with it.
I'm an expert on this because I used to be this person who tried my best to love people but could only ever like them. Sure, I thought I was loving them but then again, so many people do think that they truly love people - remember the divorce rate mention? All people who thought they were madly in love until the other person stopped satisfying their senses and emotions. Liking someone is an emotion. It's part of the senses so in order for the feeling of "like" to survive it must be fed by the senses.The moment the Senses stopped being pleased the Divorce papers are signed.
Liking someone or something is a personal choice that s made by each person everyday and no one said that we were required to "like" everything and everyone. Certainly, you need to initially like the person you marry but when it comes to people, God calls us to do more than like them. He calls us to love them. The truth is, we may not always like certain people but if we truly know what love is, then we will always be able to love them, if we desire to, because true love doesn't look at the other person and their imperfections as the determining factor of acceptance but it looks to God and His love for us and realizes that true love is ALWAYS unconditional love. There is a word for love that has conditions - it's called "like".
As the Bible says, love truly is a mystery. You don't know exactly how to explain it or describe it but once God truly does a work in your heart and teaches you how to love you'll know it.
...Because you'll stop looking for specks and start getting rid of logs.
