Popeye the sailor man, for those of us who might remember him, was famous for that line. I was reminded of him when I recently began re-reading the New Testament from Matthew, chapter one.
Matthew begins with the geneology of Jesus Christ. There, laid bare before the whole world, he lists the lineage of Jesus Christ, starting with Abraham, the oldest patriarch of the Jewish race who was called by God out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
He leaves nothing hidden from view inspite of what most people would admit were some pretty embarrassing characters from the “wood pile” of Jesus’ ancestors. Take Tamar for example. She slept with her father-in-law Judah to give birth to Perez. No attempt to hide that shameful incident.
Then there was Rahab (the harlot, you might remember). She played an integral part in the geneology as she gave birth to Boaz, the eventual father of Jesse, who concieved David out of wedlock (Psalm 51:5 …in sin did my mother conceive me). David would eventually become Israel’s king–and we all know about him and Bathsheba.
Isn’t it great that God chooses you and me the same way? We have no lineage worth bragging about to make us somebody any more than even Jesus, the Messiah did. Yet here we are, members of God’s beloved family and inheritors of His future kingdom.
And where were you when God called you? Everyone searches their ancestral lineage to determine where they came from. Each hoping to be from some famous past like the Queen of England or a descendent from someone on the Mayflower.
Isn’t it great that God couldn’t care less about our past? I was from the guetto of the Yakima Valley, North Wapato. Yet from there He called me to inherit eternal life. As Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly reminds us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works so that no one can boast.” (emphasis mine.)
Praise God today for calling you in spite of your past or even present situation.
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