Bad Apples

Have you ever stopped to think who is in your family tree? Every family seems to have "the perfect one", "the favored one", the "black sheep". Do you have these kinds of people in your family lineage? Which kind of person would you label yourself?

I have read through the lineage of Jesus several times. Usually it is a quick scan, when I say quick, I  mean at a frightening pace, until just recently. In studying the book of Matthew with a few of my friends, I realized that the geneology or family tree of Jesus wasn't just a list of people that I didn't know. Actually his family tree includes 46 people whose life times span 2000 years. The people that God chose to be in His family tree is quite revealing. Some interesting characters are:

Heroes of the Faith: Abraham, Isaac, and Ruth. Ruth was a stranger or foreigner from another land.
Ordinary People like: Hezron, Ram, Nashon and Akim. Have you ever heard of them? Me neither.
Evil Kings: Manasseh and Abijah
Women of Less than Desirable Pass Times: Rahab a Caananite and prostitute and Tamar.

Why do I find this interesting? When you think of Jesus' grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, I would picture them being Godly, full of love and grace having committed very few mistakes, for they are the ones that would someday produce God's Son, Jesus.

In reality, God used all kinds of people to bring Jesus here to earth. He used some pretty bad apples. God's history is not limited by our human failures and our ability to be sinful. He used EVERYONE, good and bad to accomplish His will in bringing Jesus to earth as a human baby. Jesus was conceived through a virgin, Mary because Jesus had to be free from sinful nature that passed down through his family tree, beginning with the very first sinners, Adam and Eve.

What is my point? God uses even the worst of sinners, to fulfill His plan. He is a God of love, grace and redemption. There is nothing that man can do to thwart His plans. This is an important message because so many families are going to gather together for two imporant holidays coming up; Thanksgiving and Christmas. These holidays can bring joy and sometimes frustration and pain.

Sometimes God places bad apples in our family lineage to bring out the worst in us for a purpose. Often He uses people in our families to refine us, to bring our weaknesses to the surface so He can purify us to be more like Him. He also uses them to teach us that sometimes the ones closest to us can teach us the true meaning of Love Your Neighbor as yourself. The next time you want to remove the bad apples from your family gatherings remember that God has put them in your path for a divine reason. The question we should ask God is, What are you trying to teach me? Please teach me to Love My Neighbor as myself...