The scripture for today, March 29, is Luke 3:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“…the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi….”
Who in the world were these five men: Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, and Levi? Some were named after famous Jews, but no one in this list was famous himself. In fact, nothing else is said in the Bible about any of these men. They’re just a single name in a single but long list.
Who were they that they earned even one brief mention in the Bible?
They were ancestors of Joseph, the human “father” of Jesus. What else? They were born and survived long enough to have sons. Not important at the time? No, but eventually it was.
We read obituaries and sometimes wonder about our own. Our whole life reduced to born, married, had a job, had children, died. That’s it. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just another one of billions in the world having come and gone.
Hold on! Maybe not!
Maybe your life, as ordinary as it seems now, will someday serve a greater purpose through a descendant or someone you become friends with. In a later generation ~ maybe ten or twenty generations from now ~ someone may do something extremely important for souls of the world. And it was made possible because of your “unordinary life” way back in the early twenty-first century when you survived one day at a time.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”
“…which God will bring about in his own time ~ God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords!”
“Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your [God’s] name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
“Rejoice evermore.”
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
“To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”