Knowing your place …

Are you willing to voluntarily take second place in the lives of those you love the most?

Joseph was that kind of guy.

While he was still engaged to Mary, he discovered she was pregnant …

18 This is how
Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married
to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a
virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly,” Matthew 1:18-19.

Like many men who learn their fiance is pregnant by someone else, Joseph was going to break off the engagement. But before he took action, he listened to the Lord …

“20 As
he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’,” Matthew 1:21-22.

God revealed to Joseph that He had a great purpose for Mary, and He encouraged Joseph to cooperate with His plan for how He would work through her life to the greater good of all humankind. Joseph responded by taking second place in Mary’s life so that God — and His will for Mary — could take first place.

Just as God had designed His plan to flow through this teenage couple, He continues to work His plan through our lives …

“18 And
all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through
Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting
people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of
reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

God still intends to take first place in our lives and, from that position, to seek and save the lost — “God is making His appeal through us.” For that plan to work best, we need to step back to second place in the lives of those we know and love so they can give God the full prominence He deserves in their lives. Like Joseph, we need to cooperate with His plan for others instead of trying to infringe on the place and position He alone should hold in the lives of our loved ones.

Do you know your place in the lives of others? Or do you try to elbow in on the place only God should hold in the hearts and minds of others? Do you cooperate with or confound God’s will for those you’re closest to?

Scotty