Not only is Joseph a man who holds on to truth and what is right, he also is a man of grace.
It is so easy for us to look at the shortcomings of those we read about in the Bible. We often spend our bible studies picking them apart. We talk about how much better we would have done, or we wonder why they failed to see the bigger picture or why they were so naive or ignorant or narrow-minded, etc. And that is exactly what I wanted to say about Joseph when he decided to leave Mary because she was pregnant and probably before he even talked to her. I don’t know about you, but I sure have jumped to conclusions before I knew any of the facts. But once I read this passage and really saw the truth of what was going on, I realized that I was the naïve, ignorant, narrow-minded person!
Joseph was a man who had character. This character came from his relationship with God. What I love about Joseph is that it says he was faithful to the law. I want to stop right there and ask the question of myself, would people consider me to be a person that held to my convictions and upheld the law of God?
The verse continues to say, because of his love for his fiancé, he wanted to not bring her to shame. So not only is Joseph a man who holds on to truth and what is right, he also is a man of grace.
God’s choice for the father of Jesus has become more and more clear to me. Our God is a God of grace and truth, and it seems that he picked a man that exemplifies that in the way he lived his life. And the task that God was asking of Joseph was not an easy one, so we see Joseph as a man of courage and strength as well. If this isn’t a challenge for me as a father then I don’t know what is. I want to be known as someone who is going to stand up for Truth and Grace and do so through Courage and Strength. God is calling us to do great things, but it will often mean we have to do hard things as well, but through his Spirit, it can be done.
And just on a side note, to further show his courage and strength, we see it once again in the first part of verse 25. Not many men would have been able to do that!