Thank you to my Anonymous blog reader who reminded me I haven't written in a very long time. :) As I was reading in the first chapter of Matthew for my devotions a word jumped out to me and I thought I would share my thoughts with you all.
In Matthew 1 it is talking about Mary was espoused to Joseph and then the Holy Ghost caused her to conceive and informed her that she was carrying the Savior of the World. Well, as you all know that didn't really settle well with Joseph and he starting to make preparations to break off their engagement. However something happened at that time, and that is the action word "thought" in verse twenty. Joseph thought. As started to put two and two together we read in the Bible that he changed his mind and took Mary to be his wife. The key thing in his life before even the angel spoke to him was that he thought.
I think the challenge to us is do we think about what other tell us that God says. Nowadays we can look at the Bible and make sure that what others are saying is true. However I think the easiest decision that a lot of us make is to rely on our own understanding, or own perception of what we thinking God would or wouldn't do and we make our decision on that, no thought. It is easy to just make a decision on what are normal thoughts are, but it takes some work to see if what we are hearing is what God is teaching and then the hardest part, to admit we were wrong and change. Ouch! Ya, changing to something that you were against is not easy, it takes some humility which I don't think many of us humans have :) .
What type of things was Joseph thinking about? I obviously don't know, but I wonder if some of the Old Testament passages of scripture that prophesied the Lord's coming as a baby crossed his mind. Well, though I don't know what the thoughts were that were running through Josephs mind, I do know that in order for us to come to a right decision we need to think... and just as a reminder... the Word of God (the Bible) will give you the answers you need to make your decision. God does not speak through Angels anymore because he has given us the completed scripture which contains everything we need to know about life and godliness.
In conclusion, Start Thinking :)
BenH
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"Then the hardest part, to admit we were wrong and change. " So very true Ben.
Let me exhort everyone to pray with the Psalmist - Psalm 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.