Place of entrance
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Bee's Thoughts:
Again I have learnt some principles from today's devotion.
1. Before God can use us for a major task, we must have found "favor" in God first, just like Mary had (v28, 30)... A life that is pleasing to God is important.
2. God uses unconventional method to fulfill His major goal, such as the virgin birth to bring forth Christ to earth (v31, 34, 35)... It can be quite scary to be told to do something off the norm.
3. The Holy Spirit is the One who is doing the work, all we need to do is to obey and fear not (v30,35)... We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to do miracles.
I have heard of the argument that since God used Mary for the birth of Christ, therefore, she must be great enough to be worshipped next to Christ. But from what we read above, we know that Mary was chosen (can be another virgin) because she lived a life that's pleasing to God (highly favored) and that she is willing to be the 'instrument' of God. She did nothing other than being willing. The Holy Spirit did all the works... a miracle! Mary is as human as we are, but Jesus Christ is God incarnated. So we only worship Christ Jesus and not Mary.
Likewise, our spiritual birth or regeneration is the work the Holy Spirit and not by being born to a Christian family. To be a Christian we "must be born again" (John 3:3-8).
Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You were born supernaturally and we too can be "born again" into Your supernatural Family by being willing. Help me find favor in Your sight and to be a willing 'instrument' to fulfill Your purposes too. Though sometimes what You want me to do might seem 'crazy' or unheard of, let me not be afraid to do it, just like Mary did. I pray that I will know Your plan for my life this Christmas. Amen.
Tommy's Thoughts:
While having my lunch that day, two of my friends were talking about some Christian evangelists who visited them last weekend. They seem very agitated and irritated by them. One said, “It’s so convoluted the things they said, they are really scary.” The other friend agreed with him and added “They just don’t let us know what they are trying to get from us…their hidden agendas”.
I don’t blame them to think that way. I used to be exactly like them. I also have heard countless horror stories about “ways” some Christians spread the Good News. It is sad to see how Christians our self are giving Christianity such a bad name. I may be wrong, but I personally don’t believe in door-to-door quick evangelism. Although the intention is all good and right; but somehow it will never work if people are not prepare in that short frame of time.
I think a better approach to evangelism is to be a genuinely right person our self and let God do the rest. If we live our everyday life like Christ would, others might see the God that lives in us. It’s through our actions & attitude like how we treat others, how we handle things, how we think and speak; how we care for others, how sincere and honest we are, how we helps others and how we love others. Through time, people will be ready to open their heart and come to you themselves and ask about the God we believe in. And, that’s the time we share Jesus to them.
Thank you Lord, for guiding me to be a right person everyday. I acknowledge that You are in control of all things in my life. I confess Lord that I still have bad habits and attitude that need to be changed. Help me to do that Lord. Make me be aware of how You can use me to be Your place of entrance into the world today. Amen.
.......the devotion of Bee & Tommy
