"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

Have you ever considered the background of four out of the five women mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded by Matthew? Of all the women of faith in Christ's genealogy, only Mary and these four with not so pristine backgrounds made the list-

The first woman was Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law. She was the widow of two sons of Judah. When Judah withheld a third son (Shelah) from her, she posed as a prostitute and slept with Judah, her father-in-law. She deceived Judah. The act produced twins, one of whom was Perez, also in the genealogy of Jesus. See Genesis 38.

The second was Rahab, the prostitute of the red rope on the wall of Jericho who deceived her own people to help the Israelite spies escape. She also wasn't Jewish.

The third was Ruth, a Moabitess, from a people cursed and excluded from the assembly of the Lord forever according to Deuteronomy 23:3-

3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever"

The fourth- though unnamed but referenced in Matthew 1:6- "David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife," - was Bathsheba. David killed her husband Uriah after he (David) got Bathsheba pregnant and his attempt to foist the pregnancy on Uriah failed. He then married Bathsheba. She and the product of her union with David (Solomon) are mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus!

The fifth is Mary. Highly favoured, blessed among women. Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not to leave out the guys that are reading this:) The author of the gospel of Matthew was a tax collector. In the eyes of the religious Jews back then, he and his kind were scum; so scummy that they were a sin category on their own: remember "the tax collectors and sinners." But our Lord Jesus Christ saved him; transformed him so that one of the accounts of His life as a Man on earth was written by Matthew the despised tax collector!

No matter how "ruined" you think you are, no matter what you've done, even if you are already a believer, our Saviour Jesus will make you beautiful (as He is.)

When you receive God's abundance of grace and of His gift of righteousness to us in Christ, you will "live in triumph over sin and death through the One, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17).

His Spirit will transform you to the image of His glory, from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18.) No matter how messy your life is, He'll make a message of you!

God knows how screwed up we can be. In Christ, He'll never condemn us or wonder at us: "how could you do such a thing?" He gave up His own Son to save us from our sins. Titus 2:14 says of Christ:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Nothing to do with what we do/did. All because of what Christ has done for us. Our transformation to right living is in His hands. This is Grace - undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.