Do you ever have a day when you look at yourself, as a mother - as a woman - and see only the sin and failure.
Who am I kidding?
That needs to be...
We ALL have days when we look at ourselves as mothers - as women - and see only the sin and failure.
As sinners, by nature, we are acutely aware of our imperfections. They are glaringly obvious, or they certainly should be. They should be, if we use the mirror of God's Word to gaze upon our own soul. Reading scripture, and seeing what God requires of us, shows us our inadequacies, and faults - plenty of them.
Day by day, we battle with our sinful natures. Children can bring out the best, and the worst, in our personalities. They bring challenges, almost every moment, that test our sanctification.
Then, some days, we read God's Word, and it can bring an inner sigh of reassurance and blessing. When you read a truth and you could cry from the grace it brings to your soul.
Matthew 1 did that for me today.
Listed, in that genealogy, are four women. We often think of them as simply women, named in a genealogy.
Many of you will know that it was highly unusual to list WOMEN in a genealogy. These lists are usually the place for naming men - the progenitors of a family - the lineage of a particular person.
Matthew 1 is wonderfully special. It's the genealogy of the family that bore our Saviour - the earthly family for our Heavenly Brother. The family that God chose, from the beginning of time, to bear our Redeemer, and, referred to, in that family line is not just ONE woman, but FOUR.
Tamar.
Rahab.
Ruth.
Bath-Sheba.
Not just women. MOTHERS.
Four mothers, who all had a "past". Four women, chosen by GOD, for the special purpose of being matriarchs in the family line of Jesus - Saviour.
Tamar, the deceiver, who disguised herself as a prostitute to trick Judah into bearing her a child.
Rahab, the prostitute, who had a reputation known to a whole city.
Ruth, a foreigner, from a nation who served a false god, and who should never have married into God's people at all, according to His laws.
Bath-Sheba, the woman taken by David, to serve his own lusts.
All women who must have felt shame in their pasts. Women who could look upon their lives with sadness and regrets. Some are worse than others, but none of them were perfect.
How many of us look at our lives and see, with shame, things which we would rather forget? Things that hold sadness and sorrow? Choices we have made. Family we are born into, far from perfect.
Situations we find ourselves in, that we may not have chosen, yet bring us a sense of shame.
How many of us STILL look, day by day, at things we battle, and struggles we wade through. How many of us acutely feel the weight of inadequacies, and sigh inwardly at our constant stumbling?
Yet.
God uses the imperfect. He CHOOSES to use us. Weak. Weary. Sinful. Far from perfect.
He has chosen us to be His - to be used to further His kingdom - to be part of HIS lineage, in an eternal kingdom.
He has chosen us to be mothers, too, just like these women. They all bore children who God used to lead to the Saviour. It should be our earnest desire that OUR children would also be used to extend His Kingdom. That we, some day, can lead THEM to the Saviour, and they, in turn, can lead others to Christ.
When we look at our imperfections, we can remember how God used these ladies, of centuries past. We can remember, that, by God's grace and mercy, He can also use US, to His glory. No matter how much of a "past" you have, God can use you to build a future. What we can do for God isn't dependant upon where we have come from. It's not dependant upon what we have done, where we have been, or the choices we made in days gone by. It's dependant upon God's grace, and what HE can do with us, when we are part of His lineage - His family.
Who am I kidding?
That needs to be...
We ALL have days when we look at ourselves as mothers - as women - and see only the sin and failure.
As sinners, by nature, we are acutely aware of our imperfections. They are glaringly obvious, or they certainly should be. They should be, if we use the mirror of God's Word to gaze upon our own soul. Reading scripture, and seeing what God requires of us, shows us our inadequacies, and faults - plenty of them.
Day by day, we battle with our sinful natures. Children can bring out the best, and the worst, in our personalities. They bring challenges, almost every moment, that test our sanctification.
Then, some days, we read God's Word, and it can bring an inner sigh of reassurance and blessing. When you read a truth and you could cry from the grace it brings to your soul.
Matthew 1 did that for me today.
Listed, in that genealogy, are four women. We often think of them as simply women, named in a genealogy.
Many of you will know that it was highly unusual to list WOMEN in a genealogy. These lists are usually the place for naming men - the progenitors of a family - the lineage of a particular person.
Matthew 1 is wonderfully special. It's the genealogy of the family that bore our Saviour - the earthly family for our Heavenly Brother. The family that God chose, from the beginning of time, to bear our Redeemer, and, referred to, in that family line is not just ONE woman, but FOUR.
Tamar.
Rahab.
Ruth.
Bath-Sheba.
Not just women. MOTHERS.
Four mothers, who all had a "past". Four women, chosen by GOD, for the special purpose of being matriarchs in the family line of Jesus - Saviour.
Tamar, the deceiver, who disguised herself as a prostitute to trick Judah into bearing her a child.
Rahab, the prostitute, who had a reputation known to a whole city.
Ruth, a foreigner, from a nation who served a false god, and who should never have married into God's people at all, according to His laws.
Bath-Sheba, the woman taken by David, to serve his own lusts.
All women who must have felt shame in their pasts. Women who could look upon their lives with sadness and regrets. Some are worse than others, but none of them were perfect.
How many of us look at our lives and see, with shame, things which we would rather forget? Things that hold sadness and sorrow? Choices we have made. Family we are born into, far from perfect.
Situations we find ourselves in, that we may not have chosen, yet bring us a sense of shame.
How many of us STILL look, day by day, at things we battle, and struggles we wade through. How many of us acutely feel the weight of inadequacies, and sigh inwardly at our constant stumbling?
Yet.
God uses the imperfect. He CHOOSES to use us. Weak. Weary. Sinful. Far from perfect.
He has chosen us to be His - to be used to further His kingdom - to be part of HIS lineage, in an eternal kingdom.
He has chosen us to be mothers, too, just like these women. They all bore children who God used to lead to the Saviour. It should be our earnest desire that OUR children would also be used to extend His Kingdom. That we, some day, can lead THEM to the Saviour, and they, in turn, can lead others to Christ.
When we look at our imperfections, we can remember how God used these ladies, of centuries past. We can remember, that, by God's grace and mercy, He can also use US, to His glory. No matter how much of a "past" you have, God can use you to build a future. What we can do for God isn't dependant upon where we have come from. It's not dependant upon what we have done, where we have been, or the choices we made in days gone by. It's dependant upon God's grace, and what HE can do with us, when we are part of His lineage - His family.
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