Daily Devotional January 26

Day Two, the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter Two

Life is supposed to be easy if you're "living right." This is the common accepted version of karma that even the most churched among us still finds him or herself believing. We feel #blessed by our possessions and vacations. God is blessing us with so much stuff, we say. Because of our faith in Him, we are being given abundance and favor! 

Do you think God blesses you with an easy life if you're faithful?

The reading for today is Matthew chapter two. Right after the narrative of wise men from the East visiting the infant Christ, we see Joseph being warned in a dream by an angel that he needs to take his family from their new home in Bethlehem and flee across the wilderness to Egypt. Herod, an opportunist with an army and the man in charge of the region, was going to have his thugs murder the male children in Bethlehem. Herod was worried about this one baby the wise men had told him about. Joseph and his family packed their things and fled during the night. The Holy Family were Palestinian Refugees fleeing a war-lord. 

Mary--the theotokos or "God-bearer", the one whom all generations will call "Blessed (Luke 1:48)", the one whose faith was rewarded with the honor of bringing Emmanuel into reality-- found her faithfulness rewarded by seeing all her possessions left in Bethlehem and her family being made to flee to a foreign country under cover of darkness. Mary feared for her life and the life of her new son. 

Do you think God blesses you with an easy life if you're faithful?

Herod's men killed babies looking for Jesus, but He was no where to be found. Mothers mourned for their sons, and Mary must have held hers as tight as she could the whole way to Egypt. A miserable, terrible event led them back to the place God had delivered their ancestors from centuries before. A reverse Exodus for the One who would deliver us all. God's kernel of heaven was protected and kept safe through suffering, not in spite of it. The hard parts of life come whether we are faithful, but God always protects His plan for the world.  We weren't promised an easy life, or possessions, or money, or #blessings, but we were promised the kernel of heaven would grow inside of us.

Be silent for a moment. You are a part of that plan. You carry that kernel of heaven inside of you. Feel it growing.