Day 1: January 28

Matthew 1:1-25

SCRIPTURE HIGHLIGHTS: Matthew 1:1-16

OBSERVATIONS:
All those names…. I had to slow down and read. It’s easy to skim over them. But stop and take a deeper look.

Matthew gives us the lineage of Jesus traced back from Joseph’s side of the family. In these names we see the fulfillment of the long-ago prophesied Messiah. God spoke of the line of Jesus through Abraham (Gen 12:3), Isaac (Gen 21:12), Jacob (Gen 28:14), Judah (Gen 49:10) and finally David (2 Sam. 7:12-16) hundreds of years before he was ever born. Our God fulfills His promises! Clearly seen here in these verses.

Let’s look at who is there and the reason they might surprise us that they are part of the lineage of the Son of God…On closer inspection, this is an ‘interesting’ (to put it nicely) lineage.

APPLICATION:
Our God is faithful to His promises!

Jesus’ lineage was not what I would expect- Our Messiah (Christ) has a messy family line. The Savior of the world was born into a line of dysfunctional people. But it did not define him- He lived for God’s glory.

My lineage is pretty messy too. I cannot change that. But I can look forward. In Luke 9:62, Jesus tells us of the need to have a forward view. Philippians 3:13-14- Paul tells us to forget what is behind- look ahead. God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will. We cannot change our lineage, but we can look ahead and change the legacy we will leave.
 
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you that your heritage did not define you. You were born and lived to fulfill your part of the Kingdom of God. Help me to not be defined by my lineage, but to live a life of purpose; pursuing the plans you have for me and taking advantage of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17) you provide so that I might glorify you!