Just a Regular Guy

"...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 name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."All this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means "God with us."When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife."Matthew 1:20-24

Imagine waking from a dream only to realize the Lord had spoken to you and told you to go ahead with your plans to marry your girlfriend, even though she was pregnant -- and with someone else's baby to boot. What would your parents think and your friends and especially your pastor. This is what happened to Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus.

Joseph was a young man of simple means and he was in love with a girl named Mary. He had found out she was pregnant and he was considering divorcing her privately. The Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him it was all right to go ahead with the wedding. I imagine Joseph was stunned at the news of the baby to begin with, [since he and Mary had never been intimate], but the Lord actually telling him it was okay; that was something to think about. Joseph didn't think for long because the text tells us that he did as the Lord commanded him. However, what did he think? What would you think?

Perhaps the astonished Joseph uttered these words, "But I'm just a regular guy, only a carpenter". God apparently had another idea of who and what Joseph was. God saw something in Joseph that was not visible to the human eye. Joseph, though he was a poor carpenter, has a quality that was needed in the one who would be the earthly father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Joseph had a purity of heart that is rare in the human race. God knew Joseph wasn't perfect, but He also knew that Joseph would take good care of His Son. Not because he was wealthy, he wasn't. Not because he was educated, he didn't have a college degree, but because Joseph, like David before him, had a heart after God.

How is your heart? Are you living so close to God that he would be able to trust His only Son to your care? Check the mirror of God's Word and see how you look to Him.

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