Day 1 – Sacrificing dreams
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”
Matthew 2:18-19
Joseph was a good man with good dreams. Which means he probably never saw this coming. It wasn’t like Joseph was asked to sacrifice bad things. He had to let go of how he thought life should look and embrace how God was actually working.
You see his gentleness in his unwillingness to put her to shame (make her pay), and he just wished to take care of things quietly.
Sometimes God asks us to sacrifice the beautiful dreams and plans that we have to embrace a work that we could never have imagined. Joseph most likely prayed that the Messiah would come, yet he also most likely didn’t think that would mean his fiancée telling him that she was pregnant.
Many of us don’t like change, especially when it seems to compromise the dreams we have of how life should look. Yet that is what God is asking Joseph to do…could that be what He is asking us to do?
Inward: Immanuel, what do you want me to know? What are some things, some dreams that I may have that you are asking me to lay down? What would I do if you asked me to consider something that seems so opposite to how I assume you would work?
Outward: Immanuel, what do you want me to do? How do you encourage someone whose life may look different from what they expected? How can I support someone whom others may cast aside or want to “put away” quietly?
