I Want to be More Like Joseph

So I’m reading through the Book of Matthew right now, along with Courtney over at Good Morning Girls.

We all know the story of Christmas, right? (Spoiler alert! A long, long time ago a baby named Jesus was born of a virgin in a manger. Kinda crazy, right?)

You’ll have to excuse the inaccurate timing of this post, being that it is MARCH and not December, but I never really thought too much on this topic before now. I can be a tad on the slow side, at times…
(Roughly 3 months slow, but who’s counting?)

In the first two chapters of Matthew, we find Jesus’s birth story and Joseph and Mary’s international travels from Judaea to Egypt back to Isreal due to Big Bad King Herod killing off babies. #jerk

I was impressed with Joseph’s obedience during this time. There he was, a new husband and dad, asked to do some pretty big and bold things from day one.

For example, he was asked to take a pregnant woman as his wife. I can’t imagine too many men in our current culture taking a woman, pregnant from somebody else, as their wife. So I can imagine it was rather shameful back then.

Oh, yeah – and minor detail… being a new parent is no joke. I imagine that first diaper as a “swing and a miss” curve ball for ‘ole Step-Dad.
(No, really – that first diaper change can be life-altering.)

Once he got into the swing of things with diaper changing, he was then asked to uproot his new family and move them to a different country – twice.

I have to pause there.

Have you ever travelled internationally with an infant or young child?

I have, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

While I’d like to view infant Jesus as a well-adjusted and happy infant/young child (he was supposed to be “perfect,” after all…Right?), he may have screamed his little head off a good portion of those trips. Riding camels (donkeys?) or bouncing strapped to your barefooted walking mama (without a McDonalds or Starbucks drive-thru available, might I add!) can’t be comfortable for a 400 mile trip.* I’m sure the “Are We There Yets” got old pretty quick.

A lot was asked of Joseph.

BUT…

He obeyed anyway.

I’ve color coded some verses from chapters 1 & 2 of the Book of Matthew for your reference.
(Because who doesn’t love a good COLOR CODED blog post?)

It’s clearly seen where he was instructed and where he obeyed.

BLUE – instruction/command/warning
GREEN – obedience

Ch 1: 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Ch 2: 3 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod.

Ch 2: 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”

21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

We see, in just two short chapters, Joseph given messages three times. And three times he immediately obeyed.

I want to be like that.

I want to bat 100% at obedience. That is, without wasting time pondering whether to do it or not. Or pause to ask myself if that Angel was real or a figment of my imagination. (Because I have a pretty stellar imagination.)

I want to be more like Joseph.

But it’s hard. In our day and age, we aren’t receiving visions and dreams with Angels of the Lord speaking to us. (Well, at least I’m not.)

Often, what I think may be an instruction from God, I cast off as my own imagination.

But…

What is cool about our day and age and the new covenant under Christ (you’re welcome for the churchy language), is I believe He gives us freedom to make decisions as long as we stay within those perimeters of love he set for us in the bible. So if I make decisions based on Truth, I know it’s not my imagination.

But wouldn’t it be nice to just get a direct command from Him sometime? Maybe in a dream? A handwritten note? Or even a text?

Yep, a handwritten note or text from God would be nice. 😉

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If you don’t have a bible reading plan right now, I recommend checking out The Daily Grace Co. Lots of Bible studies all the time.

*mileage taken from Arthur Blessitt‘s site. How accurate it is, I admittedly don’t know… but it sounded good enough to me. 😉 Clearly I like to get my facts straight.