I find it interesting, in a minor way, to consider that unless all of my ancestors were exactly who they were, I wouldn’t be who I am. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some real characters in my past. Drunks and adulterers and crooks and cons. Oh there are a bunch of good people, decent people, people who have done good. But there were some shady characters in my past. It was the same with Jesus.
Abraham - a man known, among other things, for his chronic lying.
Jacob - a con man of unusual ability
Judah - a user of prostitutes (one of whom turned out to be his daughter-in-law)
David - a murderer and adulterer
Rahab - a prostitute
Manasseh - a lousy parent of titanic proportions
Most of Jesus earthly lineage worshipped idols.
Most of the Bible was written by murderers!
Why did God pick such flawed people to be part of His plan for the coming Saviour of the world? Because flawed people are all that He has to work with. That is what we’re like. That is who we are.
When people express shame for having to come for counselling, when people are embarrassed for having the problems that they do, I tell them, on the one hand that they’re no worse than anyone else, including me. I assure my clients that we’re all screw-ups. To one degree or another every person on earth is a liar, a cheat, an adulterer, bigot, murderer. The only thing that keep us from being “them” is circumstance.
That’s why Jesus came to earth - to save us from ourselves.
Just as I’ve got some major screw-ups in my closet, somebody is going to have me in their closet. And the cycle continues down through history.
Thank you Lord Jesus for Your love and mercy, patience and forgiveness.
No comments:
Post a Comment