Whose Way Are You Following?

Matthew 1:1 ESV

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

Matthew begins his Gospel in a place that many of us are probably tempted to skip: a genealogy. Before we get to the miracles, the teachings, the disciples, or even the birth of Jesus, Matthew gives us seventeen verses filled with names.

But Matthew begins here for a reason.

Before we learn the way of Jesus, we need to understand who Jesus is.

Matthew immediately identifies Him as Jesus Christ, the son of David and the son of Abraham. Those descriptions connect Jesus to promises God had been making for generations. God promised Abraham that through his family all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and He promised David that a King would come from his family line. Matthew begins by showing us that Jesus is that promised King.

That matters because if Jesus really is who Matthew says He is, then He deserves more than simply being included in our lives. He has the right to lead them.

I think this is where following Jesus can become challenging for us. Most of us probably would not say that we do not want Jesus involved in our lives. We want His wisdom. We want His protection. We want His blessing. We want Him involved in our families, our work, our relationships, and our future.

The harder question is whether we actually want Him leading those things.

There is a significant difference between asking Jesus to be part of my plans and surrendering my plans to Jesus. It is possible to pray about something while already having decided what I want the answer to be. I can ask God to bless a direction I have chosen rather than genuinely asking Him which direction He wants me to go.

That is why the question, "Whose way are you following?" is such an important one.

Every one of us is following something.

Sometimes I follow my own way simply because it makes the most sense to me. Other times I can be led by comfort, fear, success, approval, financial security, or the expectations of other people. None of those things necessarily announce themselves as competitors to Jesus. They simply begin influencing more and more of my decisions until I realize that I have been asking Jesus to follow me rather than actually following Him.

Matthew's genealogy gives us a powerful reason to surrender that control.

When you look at the generations leading to Jesus, you see a story that no individual person could possibly have understood while they were living it. Abraham could not see David. David could not see the exile. The generations living through the exile could not see Bethlehem. Yet through all of it, God was faithfully moving His plan forward.

There were faithful people in the genealogy, and there were deeply flawed people. There were seasons of tremendous blessing and seasons of devastating consequences. There were moments when God's plan seemed obvious and other moments when it must have appeared that everything had fallen apart.

Yet God never lost control of the story.

That challenges me because one of the reasons I struggle to surrender my way is that I want to know where God's way is going.

I want the roadmap.

I want to know how things will turn out.

I want to know that if I make the difficult decision, have the uncomfortable conversation, give something up, step into something new, or obey what God is asking me to do, everything will work out the way I hope it will.

But following Jesus does not always come with that guarantee.

What He gives us instead is something much better: Himself.

The genealogy of Matthew 1 reminds us that the God asking us to trust Him has already demonstrated His faithfulness across generations. He kept His promise to Abraham. He kept His promise to David. He remained faithful through Israel's failures and even through generations of waiting. At exactly the right time, Jesus came.

If God can be trusted with a story that unfolded across generations, I can trust Him with the parts of my story I cannot currently understand.

That is what surrender looks like in everyday life. It means recognizing that Jesus sees what I cannot see and knows what I cannot know. It means being willing to ask, "Jesus, what is Your way here?" and then actually being willing to follow His answer.

Sometimes His way will align perfectly with what we already wanted.

Sometimes it will not.

The real test of surrender comes when His way and mine are different.

As I read Matthew 1, I am reminded that Jesus is not simply another voice I consult when making decisions. He is King. His wisdom is greater than mine, His perspective is larger than mine, and His plans are better than mine. Following Him means allowing Him to have the final word.

So today, think about the different areas of your life: your marriage, your family, your work, your finances, your schedule, your relationships, and your future. Is there an area where you have been asking Jesus to bless your way rather than asking Him to show you His?

You do not have to understand the entire road ahead. You simply need to trust the One leading you.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for being faithful through every generation and for fulfilling every promise the Father made. Forgive me for the times I have wanted You involved in my plans without truly surrendering those plans to You. Show me the areas where comfort, fear, approval, success, or my own desires have been leading me more than You. Today, I surrender my way to Yours. Help me trust Your wisdom when I cannot see the entire road ahead and give me the courage to take the next step of obedience You place in front of me. I want You not simply to be part of my life, but to lead it. In Jesus' name, amen.