You—yes, even you—even with your faults—can be used in God’s story
By Dean Collins
God can and does use the unlikely and the broken to do amazing things. And if you have any doubts that he can use you, then simply consider the genealogy of Jesus!
There are certainly some legendary names there, but if you do more than skim the genealogy given in the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, you soon realize how important it is in helping us understand that our mistakes and flaws do not disqualify us from being used by God. There is plenty of messiness and dysfunction to be discovered in the stories of the characters listed in Matthew 1.
Far from perfect
While many of these characters were revered, they were far from perfect. You can start with Abraham. Yes, he was called from his home to another land and promised by God that he would be the leader of a great nation and that through him God would bless all people on earth. And Abraham was faithful to obey God’s instructions. But he also lied more than once about his relationship with Sarah his wife.
And what about Issac? He followed his father’s footsteps in lying about Rebecca being his wife. And what about the favoritism of Esau? That certainly caused some family dysfunction!
And then there’s Jacob who deceived his father in order to claim a better blessing. Having learned from his father about favoritism, he created his own large, dysfunctional family through all the attention he gave Joseph.
The first woman in Matthew’s genealogy isTamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob. It was Judah who suggested selling his brother Joseph into slavery. The two sons of Judah, Er and Onan, were so sinful that God took their lives from them. When both sons died after having been married to Tamar, Judah was not about to allow his youngest son to marry Tamar as was required by Jewish law.
Tamar had few options for survival, and having been denied her rights by Judah, she took matters into her own hands, disguised herself as a prostitute, and seduced her father-in-law Judah. And if this story sounds like something you might see on Netflix, it is. It would make a mature-audiences-only series on any streaming platform. Yet this is not fiction. This is a part of God’s grand story and specifically about the genealogy of Jesus.
The union of Judah and Tamar produced a son named Perez who continued the genealogy a few generations later through a man named Salmon who was married to a woman named Rahab. Remember Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies before the destruction of Jericho? Well, she is in the genealogy of Jesus as well. She had a son named Boaz who married the Moabite woman Ruth, and they became the great-grandparents of King David!
Shining since creation
The Gospel writer John does not offer a genealogy as Matthew and Luke do. He opens with the creation story and tells us that Jesus was with God at creation. He also tells us, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Think about that for a minute. The divine light has been shining consistently since creation and is being revealed even through the messy and unpredictable genealogy that Matthew gave us in his Gospel account. God knew all along that he would be using flawed characters in his grand plan of redemption. And at the end of the genealogy, Jesus took on flesh and lived on earth, revealing the glory of God, full of grace and truth.
No matter what is going on in your life or mine, there is nothing so horrible that it cannot be redeemed and used by God. God never chose to use perfect people. He can’t find any! But he chose us even before the foundation of the world was established. He sent his Son Jesus to die on a cross to pay for our sins, and in him we are forgiven, restored, and called into kingdom service. We are God’s kingdom ambassadors, charged with sharing the good news until Jesus returns.
Without a clue
It is clear that the characters in the genealogy of Jesus had no idea the roles that they were playing in the grand story of God. And I can assure you that we don’t have a clue how God is using our stories either. Yet everything about Scripture screams that he is using us. We are not called to be perfect or to perfectly understand God’s plan for us. We are simply called to be faithful. God does the rest. He is weaving a beautiful story even today in you.
Cling to Jesus, trust him, and know that one day you will be amazed at what role you played in God’s grand story. It will be more than you or I could ever imagine!
Your time with God’s Word
Matthew 1:1-6; John 1:4-5, 14 ESV
Graphic by Sunshine Design at istockphoto.com
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
