Skip to main content

Lent Day 28


Scripture Reading

Luke 1:26-33


Can you for one second imagine yourself in Mary's sandals? You are a young teenage girl, probably around the age of 15 and you find out that you are pregnant. If that's not terrifying enough you know you are still a virgin, and the child you are carrying is the son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of his people. What would be going through your mind? Fear, nervousness, anxiety, maybe a little joy and happiness, these are all emotions you might experience. 


The words that the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, carry the weight of the world with them. The hope and future of humanity's relationship with God rest on these words. We often only think about this encounter that Mary had with Gabriel at Christmas time, but they are verses that we need to read throughout the year because they hold the hope of the world in them. 


These verses are the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. How wonderful it is to know that a young teenage girl was not afraid to face her fiance or the world because she knew the truth about what God was doing in and through her. My prayer for you today is that the example of Mary will strengthen and encourage you to be committed to God even in the most difficult of circumstances. 


Prayer: Lord God, I confess my tendency to doubt you and my reluctance to be obedient during the difficult times in my life. I ask that you would use the example of Mary as she learns about being the mother of Jesus to strengthen me during trials. Help me to cling to your promises as Mary did. I want to be obedient and faithful to the calling that you have placed on my life. Amen.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lent Day 43

Scripture Reading Matthew 26:14-25 Have you ever betrayed someone? Betrayal...even the word evokes horrible images. Betrayal can take the form of unfaithfulness to a spouse or love one, lying or telling partial truth. It can take many different forms. Have you ever spoken cruelly about someone behind their back or have you chosen to not stand up for someone who is the punch line of an ugly joke? Have you ever broken a promise to a friend or family member? I am guilty of all these things. We are quick to cast stones at Judas. Obviously, with good reason, he betrayed Christ into the hands of those who would crucify him. Judas was a part of God's plan for the world's redemption. I have to ask myself, in what ways am I like Judas? What in my life, in words, in heart and in actions, is betraying my devotion and love for God? What am I willing to "sell" my relationship with God in exchange for something else? There is always something that competes for our loyalty to Christ...

Lent Day 32

Scripture Reading Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus loved to use parables to teach people the truth of the kingdom of God. When Jesus taught using parables he was taking an example from the everyday life of his followers and using it to explain something about heaven or what it means to be a Christ follower.  In this very short parable, which is followed by an even shorter one, Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. As Jesus says in the parable, the mustard seed was the smallest seed used by farmers during that time. The amazing thing about it was that it would grow and become quite large. The comparison that Jesus is making is that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven starts out small but grows into something very large.  Think about it this way, the kingdom of heaven began with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but through God's plan of redemption through Jesus' death on the cross it has grown to include millions of people throughout the cent...

Lent Day 34

  Scripture Reading Matthew 7:21-27 The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who do the will of God the Father. It's interesting that Jesus says that there will be some who will have done miracles, cast out demons, and preached in his name who will not enter heaven because they didn't have a relationship with God. It seems that there are some who will appear to be followers of Jesus but really aren't. Perhaps it is also possible that there are some who by most standards one would not consider a Christian but who are actually busy doing the will of God and thus will be allowed entrance into the kingdom of heaven. It is not left up to us to make those decisions, our responsibility is to be doing God's will as we serve him on this earth.  Jesus illustrates his point by telling the story of the wise and foolish builders. Do you remember the children's song about this story? "The wise man built his house upon the rock/the foolish man built his house upon the sand/the ...