Christian Reflection and Prayer

Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).
Read Luke 1:36-38.

 

Did you ever open a Christmas present only to find
an empty box with a clue in it? Following that clue
led you out to the swing set, where another clue
sent you to the hall closet. From there you went out
to the garage, then up to the bedroom and, finally,
down to the basement, where your real present was
waiting for you.

The angel concludes his visit assuring Mary nothing
is impossible for God, pointing to Mary's own relative
Elizabeth as an example. Mary humbly offers herself
to God's wonderful plan. But she has no idea the
crazy path she will follow, as His plan unfolds in her
life. We will trace this path through this Christmas
season into the Lenten devotions, coming later this
winter.

 

But no matter what will happen, Mary trusts God, and
she is content to follow His path, wherever it may lead.
We can learn a lot from her attitude! Sometimes God's
will takes us down paths we are not expecting, paths
we sometimes do not even wish to go. But God
promises to be with us along the road. And we look
forward to a great present at the end: eternal life with
Him in our glorious and resurrected body, living in a
perfectly restored world.

 

Actually, Mary's Son Jesus did the same thing too.
When His Father asked Him to take the path of the
cross, Jesus said, "Not My will, but Yours be done"
(see Luke 22:42). He went to the cross, took our guilt
on Himself, and died in our place so that God could
look on us with love, favor and forgiveness.

 

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, sometimes Your
perfect plan for our life takes us down paths we would
not choose on our own. Give us faith and confidence
to trust You as Jesus did. In His Name. Amen.

 

(Advent Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Verse

 

Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the causes of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17

 

Voice

 

My view is that to sit back and let fate
play its hand out and never try to
influence it at all is not the way
[humankind] was meant to operate.
John Glenn

 

Prayer

 

Prepare us, God, for the peace that
comes only by sacrifice and discipline.
adapted from Common Prayer

 

(sojo.net)

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since
I am a virgin?" (Luke 1:34)
Read Luke 1:34-35.

 

Mom and dad made most of the Christmas cookies
in our house. Sure, they let us use cookie cutters
and sprinkles, but for some reason that's all. I always
thought five little boys would have been a really big
help measuring out ingredients and mixing them
together. Did it really hurt if you put in two cups of
salt instead of two cups of sugar? (I couldn't
understand why mom threw out that whole batch of
dough and sent us out to the living room.)

 

When it came to Jesus' conception, the angel told
Mary the Holy Spirit would do all the work. He will
come upon her and use His miraculous power to
bring about Jesus' conception.

 

Just as a cookie recipe requires the correct amount
of sugar and salt, God's recipe for our salvation
required His Son to be conceived and born of a virgin.
Every human born of a human father and mother
inherits the stain of sin our human race has carried
since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. Had Jesus been conceived of
Joseph and Mary He would have been contaminated
with our same sinful nature and could never have
been our Savior.

 

To save us, God's Son had to share our human
nature and flesh, without sharing our sin and guilt.
Being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born free of
our guilt, Jesus was able to be our perfect Substitute, l
iving the perfect life you and I cannot live. He
completed our salvation by suffering and dying in our
place on the cross.

 

THE PRAYER:

Almighty God, thank You for Your perfect plan to save
us through Your spotless Son Jesus Christ. Give us
faith to always trust Him as our one and only Savior.
In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

 

(Advent Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)