2010 – October 19 – Knowing One’s True Father

Study from God’s Word… Matthew 1: 1 – 17; Luke 3: 23 - 38 … Passage for Reflection: Luke 3: 23 … NIV Now Jesus Himself was about 30 years old when He began His ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, …

My Journal for Today: Today I’m led to continue my trek into the New Testament for this year by reviewing the two genealogies of Jesus, carefully documented by Matthew and Luke. And these listings are important for a Jewish reader, as well as for us Gentile believers, because they carefully and accurately record the kingly lineage of Jesus, from both genealogies, through the line of King David, where the lineage of The Messiah had been prophesied by several of God’s Old Testament prophets. And then Luke’s listing, which was more for all mankind than just directed to the Jews, went all the way back to Adam, documenting Jesus’ human line, … since God was sired by the seed of God’s Spirit rather than the human seed of Joseph. And so, that little phrase, ”so it was thought,” which I’ve edited in bold above from today’s text, so briefly – but aptly – points out that the people of the day assumed that Jesus was born of Joseph; but we now know differently, with the help of the Gospel accounts; … i.e., that our Messiah was given human life by the seed of none other than God, Himself.

Yes, our feelings about our earthly father are significant, aren’t they? Some people reflect fondly on their biological fathers. Others do not. But how we think about our fathers often – if not most of the time – has a lot to do with how we think about God. But HIS-tory and God’s word tells us that we can all have a Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us with infinite love when we choose to become a son or daughter in Christ, becoming, by our faith and God’s gift of salvation, part of the spiritual lineage of God Himself. Dr. Smith, who daily has a question to lead his readers to ponder his daily devotional and the section of God’s word which we’ve read for the day, asks today, Who has been the greater influence in my life, … my biological father or my heavenly father?”

And that is an important question to ponder; because if we’re letting our attitude of our earthly father deflect or detract from our relationship with our Heavenly Father, God is not preeminent in our life; and we need focus our earthly relationship – and most certainly our eternal relationship – on Jesus, making Him the focus of our lineage, both now and forevermore. When you received salvation from your faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross to save you from your sins (and prayerfully you have!), your spiritual lineage was established with an eternal, Heavenly Father, Who has made you a son or daughter of His forever. And we’ll read later how Jesus wants us to focus now – and forever – on that relationship so that He can guide us through this life and into the next.

Again, we must declare, HALLELUJAH, which I think we’re going to be doing repeatedly as we go through the New Testament as we close out the year, 2010.

My Prayer for Today: Praise You Lord [!], for bringing me into the line of the King of kings and giving me Fatherhood from Heaven. Amen