Do you believe that God loves you despite your disappointments and failures? Do you believe that God has your best interests in mind? And that He has good things planned for your life?

[I hope your answer is “Yes” to all of the above. Because it’s all true!]

After God redirected Joseph’s steps in his dream, Joseph may have been tempted to believe that God didn’t have his best interests in mind. God gave him an out-of-the-box new direction: “take Mary home to be your wife…” But, what would his family think? What would his friends think? What would this mean for his family’s reputation or his for that matter?

After studying for this devotion series, Mary and Joseph have become my new heroes. To them, it didn’t matter what others thought. They didn’t weigh obedience to God based upon the opinions of others, their circumstances or their feelings. They radically embraced all that God wanted to give them by responding “yes” to His every direction.

So how does this relate to us today?

Often what God tells us to do, will not make sense to other people – this includes family and friends. They may think we’re radical! Can’t you hear them now, “she’s taken this whole religion thing too far…” I’ve experienced this. I’ve lost friends over the last few years. I’ve been shunned by others. And often, I’m misunderstood by those closest to me.

Yet, if we truly believe that God loves us; that He has our best interests at heart; that He has good planned for us – then we must wholeheartedly follow His directives in our life. This could mean:

• Radically breaking from your normal family tradition at Christmas to include the Guest of honor, Jesus, in your festivities. One way would be having the true Christmas story read from Scripture during your gatherings.
• Sharing what He’s done in your life over the last year with others – (who cares what they think – do you realize how much this honors God?! He gets so excited about stuff like this! Football players do it was they’re running into the end-zone, why can’t we?)
• Doing what He’s placed on your heart to do – even if it requires getting out of your comfort zone and doing something you’ve never done before.

If we truly want to embrace all that God wants to give us, we have to overcome the fear of living a life that is very different from the people around us. We can’t look to others for confidence and peace, we have to look to Him daily – trusting that He will never throw us under the bus!

Merry Christmas!