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Advent Week 4: The Way of Return, Day 6

Have you ever been called back to keep a difficult promise and live a dream that seemed lost? We are not called to live lives of mythical perfection, but to be faithful in our callings. Do you agree?

by David Joynt on December 18, 2016


 

MATTHEW 1:20-25

But Joseph is prevented from abandoning his plans. In a dream, God calls him back to his original commitment. He is instructed to marry his betrothed and to become her husband and the baby's father. Sometimes the way forward in the Kingdom requires us to return to and embrace earlier commitments, even when they have become complicated or difficult. Joseph is asked to trust that God has a greater purpose in what looks like a personal and social calamity. There will be more difficulties ahead, from the hard journey to Bethlehem to the travails of parenting under public pressure. But God has an infinitely better dream and greater reward for this first century man—to be Dad to the Son of God! 

Have you ever been called back to keep a difficult promise and live a dream that seemed lost?

We are not called to live lives of mythical perfection, but to be faithful in our callings. Do you agree?


FAMILY TIME: What is your biggest commitment right now? If you are married, show your kids your marriage vows.

 

Tags: advent, return

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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