I wondered today, why the history of our bloodline is so important?
Growing up, I never really associated with my last name. It was some part of me that was unfamiliar and unwanted. I just couldn’t relate to it. It felt like everything that touched me or that I touched was some how tainted, by a past I had no control of.
I couldn’t trust because of the abuse and trauma I had undertaken all of my life. My heart had been shattered. It wasn’t until I came into relationship with Jesus and experienced His healing from the inside out that I was even capable of loving anyone else. Literally, I love because He first loved me. He taught me I had value and worth and for the first time in my life, I truly loved myself which made me capable of loving someone else.
The interesting part was I didn’t know how broken I was. My brokenness had become my normal. It wasn’t until I got married the second time around that I actually loved, for the first time, in a healthy way. I realized I no longer kept my true self hidden behind invisible walls. The brokenness inside of me no longer had the ability to mold every decision I made. I realized I was free, free to be me and that little girl, the one hidden inside of my soul, was finally safe.
Now lets get back to the question at hand. In the scriptures, we can see the lineage of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, which are known as the “Begats”. As a matter of fact most Christians know Jesus is the bloodline of King David. I use to read the “begats” and wondered why in the world is this so important, it is full of liars, fools, fornicators, adulterers, prostitutes, and even murderers.
I soon realized the connection. Just like I felt tainted by a very broken past, Jesus’ bloodline was tainted from man-kinds brokenness. There are so many people suffering from loss, abuse, abandonment, rejection, and so much more, that fear has crippled their ability to see clearly and the suffering continues. On the other side of that fear is guilt and guilt has the power to keep us in the chains of unhealthy desires, greed, mindsets, or even addiction. The eventuality of this kind of suffering, whether internal or external, will lead to confinement in prisons of self loathing.
Ultimately, we feel so far removed from any kind of salvation and disconnected from anyone who promises to save that Jesus suddenly becomes unattainable and foreign; an inanimate object, invisible to touch, unreachable, and vague. We are so desperate for something tangible that we cling to anything and anyone to minimize our pain. More often than not, we find relief in all the wrong places.
Perhaps its my simple mindedness, but In all of my heart, and I am no scholar, I believe God made sure not only my brokenness but all of humanity's brokenness can be found in the bloodline of Jesus. This is our Creator’s way of saying I accept you. I accept all of your baggage. As a matter of fact, you are no surprise to me. I have loved you from the beginning of the world and I am the one who formed you in your mother’s womb. There is nothing that has the power to remove you from my Great Love. I have over-come your “humanness”[your actions, reactions, perceptions, of being human, the embodiment of overwhelming emotion].
I have called you out as my very own. Come and let me show you my love; just as you are, right where you are. Because, I have loved you first through my son, Jesus Christ, who gave of Himself, that you might come to know my Love.
Let My Love blanket your brokenness and show you what Love really means.
Father, help me to love myself through understanding your Great love for me. Help me see my brokenness as a path to Salvation found by having a relationship with Jesus. Thank you, for your faithfulness. You are so good to me and Your love is like no other. In Jesus Name I pray Amen!
I encourage everyone to please read the bible for themselves and allow it to speak to them personally. The scriptures are rich with wisdom and full of grace.
Scriptures:
1 John 4:19 NIV “We love because he first loved us”
Jeremiah 1:5 NLT "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."
Psalms 139:13 HCSB “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb”.
Galatians 1:4 DBT “who gave himself for our sins, so that he should deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father”