Notes of Faith December 3, 2025

Available and Faithful

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make [Mary] a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

Matthew 1:19

Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, continued a tradition of God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Joseph was a carpenter in Nazareth and was part of the Davidic ancestral line. We also know he was a “just” (righteous) man. Though we know little of his life after the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:41), it appears he may have been alive at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 13:55) but died by the time of the crucifixion (John 19:26-27).

Consider what Joseph went through when he discovered Mary was pregnant before they were married! His first impulse was to do what was best for Mary by saving her from public humiliation. Then when he discovered that her Child was of God, he married her and established a family in which the Child would be loved and nurtured. He taught Jesus the skill of carpentry (Mark 6:3) and apparently raised Him “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Luke 2:41-52; Ephesians 6:4).

We don’t need to be famous to be used by God. Like Joseph, we only need to be available and faithful.

It is better to be faithful than famous.

Theodore Roosevelt

All of the Apostles chosen by Jesus to continue His work on earth, to establish the church, were ordinary men, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do extraordinary work for God.

May we, the less than famous, be faithful and fruitful for the glory of God!

Pastor Dale