Hi Everyone!
Last Christmas, my eyes were opened to a part of the Christmas story that is not emphasized; and yet such a beautiful act of love.
Christmas is a beautiful celebration of the birth of Christ, our Saviour and the love of God come down. Mary is an example of a servant heart, fully surrendered to God’s will, when she said, “I am the Lord’s servant…May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38 (NIV) We often focus on Jesus and Mary’s role in fulfilling God’s plan for us.
What caught my attention, was Joseph. I listened to the Christmas songs and how they rang out the story of Jesus. The songs singing about Mary’s love, like Mary Did You Know. I thought to myself, where is Joseph’s song. Here is a noble man, who was faithful to the law, the Bible says; and when he found out she was pregnant, he did not want her disgraced. He loved her enough that he was going to divorce her quietly.
It says, “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’” Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV)
As the story goes, Joseph took Mary as his wife. When I thought of writing a song about Joseph, I thought of how God saw him. Here is a noble man that God was entrusting to be His son’s Dad. He knew Joseph would love Jesus as his own. He knew Joseph would teach Jesus of his Father’s love and would care for him. God knew that Joseph had an obedient heart and each time He came to him in a dream, Joseph obeyed. He kept Jesus safe from Herod and he protected the Son of God until the day Jesus knew His real Father. He is the greatest example of the beautiful love of a step-Dad.
This means a lot to me as my husband is a step-Dad. My husband has such a beautiful love for his children, and has chosen to extend that same love to my children. It is an amazing part of the Christmas story, the love God entrusted to both Mary and to Joseph. He knew they were the right people to care for His son; God’s son who was “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. He knew Joseph would show him the love of his Father. Joseph believed.
It also says in John 1:9-13, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made though him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or husband’s will, but born of God.”
We are accepted as his family. To all who believe, we are family.
Merry Christmas family!
Many blessings,
Andrea Vestby