Monday Manna

A coworker of mine let me borrow a book entitled A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers.  Here’s a summary of the book from the author’s website…

The stories of the five unlikely women who changed eternity. Tamar, betrayed by the men who controlled her future, she fought for her right to believe in a loving God. Rahab, a woman with a past to whom God gave a future. Ruth, who gave up everything, expecting nothing, and God honored her. Bathsheba, whose beauty stirred the passion of a king, and whose pain moved the heart of God. Mary, who responded in simple obedience to God’s call.  Each was faced with extraordinary —even scandalous— challenges, each took great personal risk to fulfill her calling, and each was destined to play a key role in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

I have learned so much about the lineage of Christ.  I will be the first to admit that I tend to stay away from the Old Testament when I study the Bible.  When it starts talking about such and such begat such and such and naming all those names I just zone out and place the Good Book back on the nightstand and try again at a later date. 

Now it all makes a little more sense. Although it is a work of fiction, the way the author tells the story, sheds a whole new light on these five women of the Bible.  Their customs make more sense, why they did the things they did makes more sense, and why God chose these women in particular makes more sense. 

I know some of you are thinking…”Why is it so important to know the lineage of Christ?  Isn’t is just good enough to know that He’s the Messiah. Or that he is able to perform miracles and that believing in Him and living for Him can secure us a mansion in Heaven?”

Of course it’s important to know where a person comes from.  Take President Obama for example.  I think that the fact that his mother is white, his father Nigerian, his step father Asian and his wife is black explains a lot about him.  Knowing a bit about his diverse history can explain why he behaves the way he does, or makes the decisions that he does.  He is able to see things from a lot of different perspectives. The decisions that he makes and the things that he believes have been influenced by his diverse background.

My point is that this book is more than a history lesson about Christ’s ancestors.  It explains some of the ideals, beliefs, and customs of the time period leading up to Christ thus giving us a better understanding of who Christ is. 

So whether you read works of historical fiction, encyclopedias, manuscripts, or the Bible itself (the most preferred method), just make sure you take time to study God’s word so that you will know Christ for yourself.