You Have Found Favor

 

“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

—Luke 1:30

In my last blog post, we talked about what the young virgin Jewish girl must have felt when she was confronted by a heavenly angel. Because we’ve never seen an angel, we simply cannot imagine the sense of overwhelming power, yet supreme gentleness, these heavenly beings exude.

But, the message the angel proclaimed was even more miraculous. Dr. Luke records the angel’s words, no doubt recounted to him by the Apostle Peter who heard the account from Mary herself at some later point in her life, as found in Luke 1:30-33:

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Imagine this shocking news: “Though you are a virgin, you will have a son. You must call him Jesus. And, in fact, He is God’s Son and will be King over All.”

A startling revelation, to be sure. But, somehow—in some amazingly miraculous way—the instant the angel spoke these words, Mary knew they were true.

I believe, in that moment in time, a great sense of God’s Presence overwhelmed Mary. She would never be the same again. She became a willing vessel of God’s mercy, grace, and love. She set an example for all of us who would be called by God to belong to Him.

As we begin another day, let us remind ourselves that God has called us to be willing ambassadors to a needy world. Let us feel that same sense of awe that Mary felt. And, let us follow her example and yield ourselves to God’s direction and follow Him along the pathway that He opens before us.

 

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