Friday, January 1, 2010

Grace to the Disgraced?

Today begins the new year, as well as our Bible Reading plan for 2010. One of the best things you can do for your spiritual life this new year is to spend a little time in God’s Word each day. I would like to help you with that, and give you a little insight into the day’s readings. Each day you will find on the calendar provided by the church a chapter in the New Testament or from Psalms and Proverbs to read. On here you will find my personal thoughts and comments on that chapter. My thoughts will probably be nothing that has not already crossed your mind or probably won’t be incredibly deep, but might help to encourage you to spend time in the Word.

Our first reading comes from the Matthew 1. This is probably not the most exciting passage of scripture you have ever read, but it does pack a punch. Matthew 1 begins with introducing a bunch of people who had kids, from Abraham all the way down to Joseph who became the adoptive father of Jesus. The writer Matthew does something that many people of that day would not do; he included women into the genealogy of Jesus. But these were not your run of the mill house wives; these were women who had some sort of a twisted past.

Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father in law Judah, because he had not given her to his third son as his wife. She conceived and bore her father-in-law twin sons, Perez and Zerah. (Genesis 38)

Rahab was a professional prostitute. When two spies were checking out Jericho, she hid them, lied to their pursuers, and took care of them. Because of that God blessed her by rescuing her from the destruction, and allowed her to live among his people. (Joshua 2 & Joshua 6:22-25)

Ruth was a Moabite woman whose father-in-law and husband passed away. Her mother-in-law was an outsider living in the land of Moab who chose to return back to Bethlehem, and she decided to go. She became the provider for her mother-in-law through the rule of the kinsman redeemer Boaz. (Ruth)

Bathsheba caught the eye of the king one evening while bathing on the roof. While her husband was away fighting a war, she had an affair when summoned by the king. The king murdered her husband once he learned she was pregnant. That child died, but the king, David, took her as a wife. Their next child was Solomon, one of the greatest kings of Israel. (2 Samuel 11)

Though these women had a complex and sometimes ugly past God used them to bring the savior of the world to us. They are just a glimpse into the grace that God will make available to all of mankind. Jesus, the perfect, comes from perfection to save imperfection. That can only be the plan of God.

If you do not attend West Side and you would like the reading plan, please leave your email in the comments section and I will send you a copy.

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