Blessings from Baltimore! I have just slipped into my room for a HIDEOUT moment and to say Hi to you! Talk about “Sweet Tea Pressure”
I was blessed and thrilled at the sweet response to my casual appeal to “Re-Think” Life with me. And I just make a public statement about PROMISES!! So I HAD to at least make day 2 :)!!
I love Matthew Chapter 1 for so many reasons.
I just this morning was chatting with a sweet friend who is here with me about my difficult sleeping. Her words just inspired the heck out of me they were something like this:
“It’s an AGE thing”!!! Yooo Hooo!
Then she said, whenever I can’t sleep, I read the Book of Kings! It puts me to sleep every time!
mmmm……I am not sure that is OK to say! Is it girls???
Anyway, It made me think of my choice of words for the day from Matthew Chapter 1.
First off, in my version of the Message, the intro pages to Matthew say these cool words:
“Every day we wake up in the middle of something that is already going on, that has been going on for a long time: genealogy and geology; history and culture; the cosmos–GOD! We are neither accidental nor incidental to the story.”
I love that! EVERY LIFE MATTERS!!! Every single life!!
I used to think the first part of Matthew was kind of like was SLEEP promoting medicine. However, as I have gotten OLDER, I have come to see a new beauty in the first 17 verses of this book.
God is so detailed and cares so much about every single person that He took the time to clearly lay out this generational path for us to be able to see and recognize the heritage of Jesus. Now that I have had a few years in God’s Word, I am able to look and see the names of many precious men and women of the Bible whose stories have changed my life. People who lived so very long ago who matter to me today.
People like:
Isaac and Jacob
Boaz and Ruth
David
Solomon, and so on.
Each one of these people mattered to ME! Patricia K Layton living and serving God here on this planet in 2009!
God’s Kingdom plan. Each one of us matters as our names are being added to God’s family tree and each of our family members matter.
Let in sink in! List them out. Think about it!
“Fulfilled” is one of the leading verbs used in Matthew. Everything is connected to the soon coming arrival of our Lord and Saviour. Everything and everyone has a position and a place.
We NEED To HEAR IT!!!!
Which leads to my other favorite part of Matt 1.
Mary.
This is where we first hear about the teenage pregnancy that changed the world for eternity. We are introduced to the Mother of all Mothers who started out in what could be nothing but fear, shame, disgrace, a whole bunch of “Yea RIGHT’s—You expect us to believe THAT!!!”
Matthew Chapter One matters to me.
In my prayer journal I might write–
How obedient am I to the voice of God when it is hard? When others won’t understand? When I have NO IDEA how it might go for me to obey?
Better yet, how good have I been lately at HEARING God? Listening to God’s voice?
All these people are listed here on this eternal family tree because they matter to God.
We matter to God and our obedience and response to His voice determines our destiny!
OK, it’s your turn girls!!! What did you find in Matthew One?
The first thing that struck me going through the family tree was Abraham. In Genesis Abraham is told to "leave his country" and he does, no questions asked. It made me wonder how many questions I ask God before I actually do what He has asked of me.
Secondly, it made me remember Hagar and how awfully she was treated by Sarah. When Hagar fled God found her. She said to Him, "You are the God who sees me". I love that verse. It's such a great reminder that God sees us wherever we are. He knows our circumstances, knows everything about us. What a great reminder of His love for us.
And last, the birth of Christ. The one who came to save us all. Sweet Jesus. The comfort in that alone is simply amazing.
Thanks for doing this Pat!!
Love you.
Pat, love this post..thanks for doing it..Mary never ceases to amaze me in how she faced the pregnancy. I just always wonder what she was like, what she felt, how she acted, etc. Really appreciated your thoughts today!
Thanks Pat for your thoughts on Matthew 1. I liked where you said, EVERY LIFE MATTERS! (I needed to read that in the middle of caring for a sick child, folding laundry, running errands and cooking dinner).
When I look at the genealogy, I am blown away by all of the different kinds of people.
Abraham, King David, Rahab and Mary, just to name a few.
God’s plan is big enough to include all kinds of people, flaws and all. And it is marked by grace.
~ Is my life, (my daily-ordinary life) marked by grace?
~ Grace is a gift. Do I just receive it and not extend it to others?
~ By showing grace to others, can I in some way show them a small part of who Jesus is?