Lessons from 3 Most Unlikely Women in Jesus’ Genealogy
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- She was grafted into the family of the Israelites
I hope you can see how this points to you and I as New Testament believers. Here is how it compares:
- We were all enemies of God
- We were living sinful lifestyles worthy of judgment
- We had to put our complete faith and trust in Christ for salvation
- Our sins are cleansed because of the blood, and we are saved from judgment because of the blood
- We are grafted into the family of God
Rahab’s life points to a future hope and salvation that those who are Gentiles would be able to find in Christ. She experienced it then, and we get to experience it now.
3. Your past does not prevent you from being used by God
If there is a truth we find in the lives of these three women, it’s that what you were before Christ does not dictate, determine, or disqualify you from what you can be in Christ. These three women had checkered pasts just like everyone else listed in this genealogy. I will add, just like you and I do as well. Every one of us has something in our past that if it came to light, we would be sorely ashamed. Yet it is important to know these things don’t prevent you from being used by God. Obviously, you must repent and not continue in them, but your past does not prevent God from using you.
God included these women as part of the genealogy leading to the birth of Christ. He worked in them and everyone else in spite of who they were. This all points back to God’s grace. God doesn’t just save us by grace, he uses us by grace. None of us were worthy before we got saved and none of us are worthy now. We are all simply usable vessels because of God’s grace.
That’s why you should never be envious of the way God is working in someone and think he is doing it because that person is special. They are not. They may be gifted and talented, but the reason God uses them is not because of their ability, but because of their availability. When they make themselves available to God’s for his purpose, they become reflections of God’s grace because he empowers them to do what they do.
This is what you must always remember. It is God’s grace, operating through the Holy Spirit who lives within you, that gives you the ability to do and be what he wants you to be. The amount of your ability is not what matters most, it’s the amount of your availability that God is concerned with. There are plenty of able people whom God never uses because they don’t make themselves available.
Knowing this helps you understand why there is no room for arrogance in the Christian life, because everything you do is a work of God’s grace in you. If you have one responsibility, it is to become an open vessel that allows the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you. When you do this, despite where you have been or what you have done before, you become the type of vessel that God can and will work through.
I hope you have found encouragement from the lives of these three women. As you continue remembering Jesus at this time of year, I pray that you would simply make yourself available for God’s use. Just like he has done in the past, he is still looking for willing and able vessels today. When you make yourself available, all I can say is stand back because you never know how God will use your life for his glory.
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