Simple Obedience

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Matthew 1:24

Joseph the carpenter was chosen by God to be Jesus' adoptive father. He would be the one to provide for God's Son, to protect Him and to teach Him what it meant to be a man. What a huge responsibility! What a privilege! But why was Joseph chosen? Was it simply by chance? Was it a package deal? Did God choose Mary and just accepted Joseph because he was already engaged to her? I don't think so. So why did God choose him?

Scripture doesn't record much about Joseph. In fact, Scripture doesn’t record a single word spoken by him. But when you read what is there, there is one thing that is noticeably consistent in his life: obedience. All throughout the Scripture record, Joseph consistently obeys God. 

We first see this in Matthew 1:24. God commands. Joseph obeys. Simple obedience. This is perhaps the single most impressive aspect his character. When God tells Joseph to take pregnant Mary as his wife, he does it. When he tells Joseph to name the baby Jesus. Joseph does it. When He says flee to Egypt (2:14), Joseph flees. When he says to come back from Egypt (2:21), Joseph returns. As it turns out, one of the few things we can say for sure about Joseph is that he obeyed God. While I can't be certain that this is why God chose him to be Jesus' earthly father, it seems plausible and it's certainly an attribute worth emulating.

So how can you increase your obedience in the new year? I'm not talking about impressive feats of spiritual perfection, just plain old-fashioned obeying what God's Word and His Spirit tell you to do. Resolve to do that. Stop offering God anything less than complete obedience. Listen for His direction, and then, very simply, obey.