She is a teenager with child. Engaged but not married. The child is not his. Honest, she is a good girl. If it was her plan she would not be with child without being married and the child would be his. She doesn't mess around. She knows the Bible stories passed down. She seeks to please her God. But ...
He is a few years older and is engaged but she is with baby that is not his. He knows the law. He could parade her through town and then have her stoned, but he is a gentle soul and will put her away quietly. He seeks to obey his God. But...
But God wanted Mary, a virgin, to carry and bring Jesus into the world. He knew there would be talk of His Son being born of a wayward woman but see His plans are not our own. Can you imagine the glares and the fingers pointing at Mary?
But God wanted Joseph to step up and protect Mary. God wanted Joseph to father the Son who was not his own. Can you imagine the whispers and the eyes avoiding you just because you went a married a woman who was with a child not your own?
It really went deep for me this year for some reason. We think obeying and loving God is a neatly wrapped plan of doing what is right and that it will be easy. Or at least it should be! Why do we think like this? Remember God says His Plans are not our plans so we shouldn't be so surprised when His Plan asks us to obey and love God when it is not so neatly wrapped. In fact our plan is way to easy and we think we should get a ton of favor (human) heaped upon us for doing the right things. Problem - that isn't a true obedience or a true love. We need to do His Messy Wild Plan with all our obedience and love. Now that is true - when you can do it when others laugh at you and think you lost it - true love for Him ... our gift back to a God who loved us first...
Merry Christmas!
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