“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God, and then set her on a road that was incredibly difficult. We’d sure like to think that being the recipient of God’s favor is a good thing from start to finish, but given the kinds of things Mary experienced, that’s not such an easy conclusion as we’d like. So, what does it mean to find God’s favor?
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“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever been in a place of turmoil? Of course you have. We all have. We’ve all been there multiple times. Sometimes turmoil is an almost daily affair. And in these times when life is topsy-turvy what is it that we most want? Peace. We long for peace. We need peace. We want life to feel like a scene from a Bob Ross painting. How do we get this?
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“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The night Jesus was born the quiet world of these humble shepherds was lit up by the heavenly host calling them to hurry and go see the newborn baby. The shepherds are a pretty treasured part of the Christmas story. There’s always at least one in every nativity scene. They never fail to make a Christmas pageant—usually in the form of a cute youngster in his daddy’s robe, carrying a staff for which he has been threatened with everything short of death by hanging if he uses it Jedi-style to hook an unsuspecting audience-member as he processes down the aisle. We love the shepherds. The people of first-century Israel, however, did not.
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“So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
So, let me get this straight: David did a census of his nation that God didn’t like, and He killed 70,000 people for it? What in the world are we supposed to do with this?
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“For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever met someone who was too big for their britches? We like to give lip service to the idea that people are people no matter who or where they are, but in reality we don’t really believe that. We don’t believe it whether we think we are something or whether we’re sure we aren’t. Our celebrity culture makes this as plain as day. Celebrities are a little (or sometimes a lot) like spoiled children. The worst of them act in the zany ways they do not only because they think they can, but because all the people around them enable them to do it by catering to them.
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