God Loves Imperfect Families

I asked my husband for ideas on what to write for this devotion, and he asked me what I've been reading.

Genesis. You know, the book with all the stories about how Abraham tried to pass Sarah off as his sister, how Lot's daughters tricked him into sleeping with them, how Sarah was jealous of Hagar and sent her away, how Isaac tried to pass Rebekah off as his sister (like father,like son), how Rebekah helped Jacob deceive Isaac, how Laban deceived Jacob and Jacob married two sisters and played favorites, how Rebekah deceived Laban, how...well, you get the gist--lots of deception. Not very pretty stories, huh?

Kind of makes you wonder why God chose these people, doesn't it? They make my family look like saints.

But chose them is exactly what He did...over and over again. "The Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'" (Genesis 12:1-3, ESV). And He reminds them of this choosing in chapters 13, 15, 17, 18, 22, 26, 28, and many other times that I haven't gotten to yet in my reading.

Out of all the people in the world, God chose this crazy, messed up, messing up family to be His, set apart to belong to Him and do His work, to be a blessing to the rest of the world. And through the waters of Baptism, we are adopted into this family. Galatians 3:29 tells us, "And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."

My husband's take on all this: God loves us and uses us even when our families aren't perfect.

Heavenly Father, my family isn't perfect, and you know that better than anyone. Thank you for loving us and using us anyway. Lead us to be faithful to you that we might be a blessing to others. In Jesus' name, Amen.