Some people use their family name to boast about wealth, power or prominence. But the genealogy of Jesus shatters expectations. God’s raw, unfiltered family album includes prostitutes, pagans, adulterers, and murderers—people who wouldn’t be welcome in most churches! But God didn’t airbrush their stories; He wove them into His redemptive plan, proving that Jesus didn’t come for the perfect, but for the broken. In these names, we see ourselves—flawed, faltering, yet invited into a family where we are forgiven and made whole through faith in Him. That means your failures, your shame, your past don’t disqualify you. They make you the kind of person He came for. The genealogy of Jesus reminds us that grace doesn’t find good people to reward; it finds broken people to restore. And if He could use those people, He can surely use you!
Overcoming Discouragement
Have you ever taught a Sunday School class, led a Bible study, or participated in an outreach endeavor, only to witness what appears to be a total lack of results? It can be disheartening to invest so much and reap so little. Even the prophet Jeremiah, a man of steadfast faith, found himself in the depths of discouragement. But in his darkest hour, when he contemplated giving up, it was the unshakable Word of God that brought him back from the precipice of despair. We must remember that even in the midst of apparent fruitlessness, God’s purposes are still at work in ways we cannot see. If you are in a similar place right now, you can find renewed strength and hope in the unfaltering promises of God’s Word!
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