“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” - Matthew 1:24
In the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George
Bailey is a young dreamer who lives in the sleepy little town of Bedford Falls. He
oversees a small building and loan that his father founded. George hates the
building and loan business, but after his father dies and his younger brother
moves out of the area, he feels obligated to put his personal dreams on hold to
keep the family business running. He eventually marries a beautiful girl named
Mary, and they have four cute kids: two boys and two girls. Despite his
unexpected change of course, George is on top of the world. But suddenly his
world comes crashing down one day when his coworker misplaces $8,000, and a
warrant is issued for George’s arrest.
All seems hopeless for George—just as it must have seemed
hopeless for Joseph of Nazareth in the first chapter of Matthew. We read in
Matthew 1:18 that Mary and Joseph were pledged to be married. More
specifically, they were betrothed. That means they were legally “husband and
wife,” but Mary still lived with her parents and hadn’t consummated her
marriage with Joseph. Although Nazareth was a
podunk town located in the dull region of Galilee ,
Joseph must have been on top of the world. The wedding ceremony was at hand,
and he would soon walk into his own home hand-in-hand with the prettiest girl
in town.
But suddenly his world came crashing down when he discovered
that his beautiful Mary was pregnant. God’s word doesn’t tell us how Joseph
learned of Mary’s pregnancy. Perhaps she told him right away, or perhaps her
bulging waistline revealed her secret. But regardless of how he learned of
Mary’s pregnancy, it’s clear from Matthew 1:19 that Joseph had made up his
mind: He was going to divorce Mary. The only logical explanation for her
pregnancy was that she had committed adultery. Although Joseph was devastated,
he had decided that divorcing her quietly was the most loving and honorable
thing for him to do.
But a visit from an angel turned Joseph’s world upside down,
just as it did for George Bailey. According to Matthew 1:20-21, “An angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be
afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’”
Can you imagine how thunderstruck Joseph must have been by
the angel’s words? What the angel said was crazy. It defied all logic. Virgins
don’t get pregnant. Teenage girls don’t give birth to “God with us.” And it
made no sense that he—a blue collar, living paycheck-to-paycheck
carpenter—would be the earthly father of the promised Messiah.
But Joseph believed the word of the Lord and obeyed God
anyway. After the dream ended, he got up and did what the angel had commanded
him to do. He “took Mary home as his wife,” but he didn’t consummate the
marriage until after Jesus was born. Righteous man that he was, Joseph put
God’s needs, Mary’s needs and his miraculously-conceived son’s needs above his
own personal needs. Despite the hardships to come and the stigma that he would
certainly bear for having married a pregnant woman, Joseph obeyed the word of
the Lord.
As I consider the wonderful example of
Joseph, three life lessons come to mind. For starters, Lesson #1: Good things
can come out of Victorville. In Jesus’ day, Nazareth had a bad reputation. Even one of
Jesus’ apostles asked the question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth ?” Similarly,
many people ask, “Can anything good come out of Victorville? Can anything good
come out of Adelanto? Can anything good come out of Apple Valley ?” And God answers, “Absolutely!”
Just as good things came out of Nazareth when
God was involved, good things can come out of the Victor Valley
Lesson #2: Maintaining a good reputation with God takes
precedence over maintaining a good reputation with man. God has called us to
live lives of integrity and, as much as possible, to do what is right in the
eyes of everyone. But there are times when choosing to obey God will tarnish
our reputation with people. So be it! Just like Joseph, we must always choose
to do what is right in God’s eyes. We must obey God, not man. Ultimately, our
highest aim as Christians is to be God-pleasers, not man-pleasers.
Lesson #3: Live and celebrate the wonderful life that God
created you to live—a life of loving, trusting and obeying Him. The bridge is a
pivotal place in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The first time George
stands on the bridge, he is at the end of his rope, feeling completely
hopeless. At the end of the movie, he’s back on the bridge but has a new lease
on life. What changed? He is still $8,000 in the hole. He still has a warrant
out for his arrest. His car is still smashed against a tree. So what changed?
His perspective changed. God opened George’s eyes to see the glorious truth
that—despite his hardships and difficulties--God had blessed him with a
wonderful life. The same was true of Joseph, and the same is true of you. My
friends, despite your problems, ask God to open your eyes so that you can see
what He sees: Your God-given life is, in a word, “wonderful.”
Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville.
For more information,
visit www.fccvv.com and join us this Christmas season—Sundays at 10am.
No comments:
Post a Comment