Luke 1:28
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord
is with you!”
This morning I sit here thinking about how crazy it is to have our God leave His heavenly throne to enter our time and space in order to sacrifice Himself for His creation. The thought of this is often beyond my simple comprehension. However, that is exactly what God chose to do because of His refusal to leave us sinking in the quicksand of life's sin. This is a crazy kind of love! So here you have it, God's angelic messenger Gabriel bringing news of our Savior's birth through a young girl named Mary, whose age was probably 12 to 14 years old. Nothing seems logical, but at the same time "nothing will be impossible with God.”
The other point of interest is the relevance of the verse I noted above from Luke 1:28. This message not only speaks to Mary, but it remains relevant to us as well!
Do you know what that word “favor” literally means? It’s the word for grace, undeserved favor, and unmerited love. This word describes the essence of how we are saved, loved, and embraced by God. Mary was saved by grace and chosen by God to be a recipient of grace and so are we! God has given you grace—he’s favored you. We don’t deserve it. Every true Christian stands alongside Mary as one who has been favored by God.
Despite the illness of sin and pain we may experience in and through this present life our Redeeming God sees in us a renewed beauty because He entered our world to bring the healing through His sacrifice of His own life, a debt that was ours to pay. By His death on the cross of shame He paid the price and through His rising from death's tomb He provided a living hope toward new life!
That's amazing news. Yes, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"
Take a moment today and simply thank God that he has chosen to favor you with his grace and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment