What did I just read?!
Oh man! I feel like I just finished watching a Jerry Springer marathon! Talk about dysfunctional families. I mean Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah are not exactly candidates for the father of the year award. In fact, the details of their stories are not even appropriate to recount to children. This family has me shaking my head at almost every verse! It always amazes me when I think that these are the people God chose to set up His promise to Adam of a rescuer that would crush the serpent’s head and undo what sin has done. I mean why them? Were they really the best mankind had to offer?
And then I look at Matthew’s account of when Jesus calls him to be a disciple in Matthew 9:9-13 and I am reminded that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”. God is in the business of redemption. The Creator is actively redeeming His creation and offering up restoration and hope to ALL who come to Him, be it tax collectors, sinners, ancient farmers in Canaan, or youth pastors in Lloydminster. I am reminded that my sin is no better than anyone else’s and I am in need of Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation just like every single person on this planet. In fact, I am reminded to thank God that He placed those patriarchs in the ancestral line of my savior, because the message is clear to all who will listen: God will take your mess of a life and make it something wonderful for His glory!
-Darren Bute
Youth Pastor