“and Jacob the father of Joseph” – Matthew 1:16a

Through this Advent season we have seen many individuals associated with the genealogy of Christ Jesus. We have read and studied the continuous protection of the line and lineage that led to the Messiah to come. This devotional today is a focus on the earthly adoptive father of Jesus, Joseph the husband of Mary (Matthew 1:19-25). We see the qualities of Joseph as it relates to his heart for the Lord in the fact that he displayed sacrificial love and lived with a desire to obey God. In his obedience to the Lord, he protected the validity of the virgin birth of Jesus. This places a huge importance on faith. This is knowing that
even though we may not humanly comprehend everything God is leading us to do, we must have the faith to trust God and know that He will make a way when we can’t fully comprehend how that way may exist. This is displayed through Joseph’s trust after the Angel of the Lord approached him, the actions that followed, and how we are pointed back to God even to this very day.

When studying God’s Word we don’t have any words stated directly from the mouth of Joseph, but we have the actions of a believer that adopted the son of God as his own. I am consistently reminded how our actions as Christians can speak so much louder than our words. Mary and Joseph together, with God at the forefront of their family, loved, taught, and discipled Jesus to grow in great wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). This is such a beautiful opportunity for us to see and learn from this example God has given us, of the importance we have on giving our families to Christ and seeking him daily as we disciple them for the
glory of the Lord. Also, for us to remember that when the Lord asks us to step out on faith and trust him; we do. These may be some of the loudest ‘words’ ever spoken for the Kingdom.