Read It, Learn It,
Live It, Share It
“The virgin’s name was Mary. The
angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is
with you.”” – Luke 1:27-28
We were all gathered at the house, and it was time to
decorate the tree. It’s been a long
standing tradition that I would make hot chocolate, turn on Christmas music and
then each of us would assemble to put our ornaments on the tree. The problem this year was that Alex hadn’t
gotten home yet from college, and it was getting later and later. We proceeded to put all of the other
ornaments on the tree and then waited for her to get home. She and her boyfriend arrived later that
night, before Thanksgiving, and all the other kids became excited because we
could finish the tree. Alex and Tyler
proceeded to put her ornaments on the tree and then came the pinnacle of the
night, the point at which the angel is placed at the top of the tree,
completing the process once again. Every
year there is an argument over who gets the honors. We rotate the privilege through the children
and it’s my job to remember whose turn it is.
Most years I have to refer to a video or photos from the year before,
but unfortunately that wasn’t available to me this year. I held the angel in my hand and realized that
this was probably her last official time to put the angel up there, seeing as
she’s nearly 22 and by the time it comes around to her again she would be 26
and likely in her own place and on her own at that time. Then the flood of memories washed over me as
I thought of all of the Christmas’ during her childhood and teenage years. I handed her the angel and watched as my
beautiful daughter placed the angel delicately on the tree one last time.
I then thought of about the angel for a moment. The angel that just showed up to this young woman Mary. As was the custom in those days, Mary was likely in her mid-teens when she became betrothed to Joseph. Even if she were in her late teens, like my Alex, how surprising and scared she must have been when an angel of the Lord decides to come down and have a chat? Four hundred years of silence with the world, no prophets, no Kings and no communications, then all of sudden Gabriel brings a message to Mary. The first words from the Lord to His people after all of that silence, were not a prophecy for the masses. No, the first words from the Lord at that time were specifically for Mary. I can picture either of my older girls sitting at Starbuck’s just relaxing, when a tall well groomed angel saunters in, dressed in today’s trendy style and says something like, “Hey, God loves you and is with you always” How would that go over? How would they respond to an angel of the Lord calling them out specifically?
What was it about Mary that made her so appealing to God? Perhaps she was wealthy and had all the right connections? No, probably not – she lived in Nazareth – not known for it’s wealth. Perhaps she had lived perfectly up to that point? I have no knowledge or reason to believe that Mary had led a life of sinful actions, but I do know that Jesus Christ is the only man to walk this earth in perfection, without sin. This leads me to believe that Mary, like every one of us, had been born into original sin and had likely sinned a time or two throughout her life. The words of the angel tell us that Mary was highly favored, which can be taken one of two ways:
A) God has favorites and watches each of our lives to determine who is worthy of His graces
B) the act of being chosen to carry God’s own Son, that in turn would lead to the salvation of all mankind, places Mary in a favorable spot.
I am of the faith that we are all equal in God’s eyes. His love for Billy Graham, His love for me or His love for the inmate on death row is exactly the same. God doesn’t change. He never has and never will. Therefore His love for Mary had to have been the same as His love for me – He doesn’t play favorites. Mary is favored by God as the chosen one to carry His Son, and to love, raise and mother the child.
I don’t believe there was a lottery and Mary was the winner. I can’t believe that God’s plan of salvation was a spontaneous decision on His part. It was well orchestrated over 7 generations of silence, and executed at exactly the right time with the right individuals – Mary and Joseph – to trigger the second most glorious event in the history of mankind (only surpassed by Christ’s resurrection). God is completely sovereign and could have executed this plan with any woman He chose, based on His criteria, not based on anything the woman did. He chose Mary, this young woman of God, because He knew her and had planned it long before the day Gabriel showed up on her door step.
So consider this when God speaks to you, through an angel, a vision or a dream – understand one thing; He’s thought it through with much more vision and planning than you ever could. The likelihood of God telling you to do something which ends up in failure is slim to none, when your looking at it with His optics.
I then thought of about the angel for a moment. The angel that just showed up to this young woman Mary. As was the custom in those days, Mary was likely in her mid-teens when she became betrothed to Joseph. Even if she were in her late teens, like my Alex, how surprising and scared she must have been when an angel of the Lord decides to come down and have a chat? Four hundred years of silence with the world, no prophets, no Kings and no communications, then all of sudden Gabriel brings a message to Mary. The first words from the Lord to His people after all of that silence, were not a prophecy for the masses. No, the first words from the Lord at that time were specifically for Mary. I can picture either of my older girls sitting at Starbuck’s just relaxing, when a tall well groomed angel saunters in, dressed in today’s trendy style and says something like, “Hey, God loves you and is with you always” How would that go over? How would they respond to an angel of the Lord calling them out specifically?
What was it about Mary that made her so appealing to God? Perhaps she was wealthy and had all the right connections? No, probably not – she lived in Nazareth – not known for it’s wealth. Perhaps she had lived perfectly up to that point? I have no knowledge or reason to believe that Mary had led a life of sinful actions, but I do know that Jesus Christ is the only man to walk this earth in perfection, without sin. This leads me to believe that Mary, like every one of us, had been born into original sin and had likely sinned a time or two throughout her life. The words of the angel tell us that Mary was highly favored, which can be taken one of two ways:
A) God has favorites and watches each of our lives to determine who is worthy of His graces
B) the act of being chosen to carry God’s own Son, that in turn would lead to the salvation of all mankind, places Mary in a favorable spot.
I am of the faith that we are all equal in God’s eyes. His love for Billy Graham, His love for me or His love for the inmate on death row is exactly the same. God doesn’t change. He never has and never will. Therefore His love for Mary had to have been the same as His love for me – He doesn’t play favorites. Mary is favored by God as the chosen one to carry His Son, and to love, raise and mother the child.
I don’t believe there was a lottery and Mary was the winner. I can’t believe that God’s plan of salvation was a spontaneous decision on His part. It was well orchestrated over 7 generations of silence, and executed at exactly the right time with the right individuals – Mary and Joseph – to trigger the second most glorious event in the history of mankind (only surpassed by Christ’s resurrection). God is completely sovereign and could have executed this plan with any woman He chose, based on His criteria, not based on anything the woman did. He chose Mary, this young woman of God, because He knew her and had planned it long before the day Gabriel showed up on her door step.
So consider this when God speaks to you, through an angel, a vision or a dream – understand one thing; He’s thought it through with much more vision and planning than you ever could. The likelihood of God telling you to do something which ends up in failure is slim to none, when your looking at it with His optics.
No comments:
Post a Comment