Monday, September 9, 2013
Luke 1:46-54 "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant ... He has done great things for me ... He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He's brought down rulers from their thrones but lifted up the humble ... remembering to be merciful."
THE HUMBLE CHRISTIAN -- A PERSON OF WORTH
This is the glad song that Mary sang on the day that the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced that she had been chosen, out of all the women of the world, to be the mother of the Savior. With eyes of faith Mary had come to recognize how richly God had blessed her, how good He had been to her. Though she was an unsophisticated girl from a poor family ... though she lived in the tiny backwater town of Nazareth ... though there was nothing in her upbringing that indicated she was a person of worth ... yet she realized the Lord loved her dearly and had exalted her (unworthy though she was of any favors) to a very high and blessed position.
How much value do you have as a believer in Christ? Do you sometimes experience feelings of worthlessness? Do you feel you're a person of insignificance and that your life is irrelevant? We've probably all had such feelings at times (maybe lots of times). The sinful world will certainly not say: "You Christians are special people, beloved of God, heirs of glory." No, the world considers Christians foolish for grounding their hopes in God their Savior. Yet despite the low estimation the world has of Christian people ... no matter how outwardly poor are the circumstances of our lives ... regardless of feelings of worthlessness we may harbor at times ... we may rejoice knowing (as Peter was inspired to write): "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).
May this blessed assurance uplift your soul as you continue your heavenward walk and inspire your glad songs of praise to God.
