A few weeks ago I introduced you to Dr. David Biebel, author and owner of Healthy Life Press. Today, Dave is sharing something he treasures with us....
What
I Treasure Most
by
Dr. David Biebel
My
father was a preacher in northern New England. This meant that as far as the
church was concerned, if the doors were open, we were there – with bright,
shiny faces, and sitting in the second row, which was numbered 34 or something
like that, because in olden times pews were rented to the constituents.
As
far as the community was concerned, as PKs (preacher’s kids) we were supposed
to be exemplary in some nebulous sort of way so the Gospel (and our father’s
reputation) would not be impugned by some act of moral turpitude that one of us
might commit. Being the oldest, I got to test that fence first, with the result
that I learned the hard way that Jesus really is the “wonderful counselor,
mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6) for there were
times when I lost my bearings and needed a wonderful counselor, a mighty God to
protect and call me back from my wanderings, a divine Father whose love is
unconditional and eternal, a Person to provide a hiding place – his grace –
where the storms of life could not drown me.
I
treasure him whom the apostle Paul calls “the indescribable gift” (2 Cor.
9:15). But what I treasure most is the astounding process that God chose to
give his Son to the world. For if Christianity were not the truth, no human
would design this way to eternal life. Consider, for instance, the following
passage from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 1:1-17, excerpted):
This
is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of
Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob
was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah
was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the
father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. Salmon
was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed
(whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of
King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the
widow of Uriah). . . .
Jacob
was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is
called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from
Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen
from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
Why
would I treasure a part of the Scriptures that some find “boring?” This
genealogy is extremely important because it establishes that Jesus had the
credentials necessary to be the Messiah: son of Abraham; son of David. If this
were not true, he could not have been the Messiah.
You
would expect the Messiah to come from an impeccable family tree, wouldn’t you?
But the first six verses of this passage name a liar, a conniver, a woman who
seduced her father-in-law (thus causing him to commit incest), a prostitute, a
Gentile, two adulterers (one of whom was a murderer, also). Sounds like a
description of the moral mayhem taking place in our world today. “There is
nothing new under the sun,” said Solomon (see Ecclesiastes 1).
While
it’s true that Matthew was establishing the lineage of Jesus, God uses this
‘boring’ section to say something really awesome to anyone who will listen:
I can use anyone to accomplish my
purposes, and ‘anyone’ includes you, with all your shortcomings and failures.
Scriptures
are from the Holy
Bible, New
Living Translation, copyright © ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House
Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
All rights reserved.
Dr. Biebel has authored or co-authored twenty books, including one bestseller: If God Is So Good, Why Do I Hurt So Bad? and the Gold Medallion winner, New Light on Depression. His recent releases include Making God Visible and his latest, Away in a Manger. This full-color book
His goal is to help people attain and retain optimal physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational health (personal wholeness) so they can love the Lord with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbors as themselves. He founded Healthy Life Press to help new authors with something to contribute in this arena to get their works into print. Visit: (www.healthylifepress.com)
*NOTE* Orders Placed at HealthyLifePress.com during November eligible for 20 percent off! Just add: FALL20 in the "coupon" area when checking out.
Well friends, I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll stop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.
Until next time take care and God Bless.
PamT
5 comments:
David,
Your press sounds most worthy and helpful. Pam, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Fascinating! Excellent post. I love what you're doing. Physical, emotional and spiritual well-being are all vital.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I was at church every Sunday. My dad was Mr. Usher. Front and center, too. LOL
In my faith tradition, the pastors don't marry. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be a PK! Wonderful post!
Beautiful post. Thank you.
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