At Christmas time, we as believers celebrate the first coming of Jesus to earth. It is a time of looking back to the Saviour of mankind crossing the great divide between Heaven and earth to become a man in order to reconcile man to God. Despite what Christmas is meant to be about, there are many who have either forgotten the true meaning, or ignore it.
Mary's prayer in Luke 1 is a great example to us of what the Christmas season is truly about. It is not about gifts, family, parties, or holidays, but rather it is all about God. Let us continue to investigate her prayer.
Mary's Attitude
Imagine it was your responsibility to pick one person who would be responsible to raise the next president of South Africa. Who would you choose? Someone famous maybe, such as a pop star, an actress, a celebrity, a TV presenter? Or maybe someone influential, such as a politician, a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor or a pastor?
Chances are you would not do what God did by choosing Mary. In His plan to provide a Saviour for the world, God starts in an obscure town in Galilee called Nazareth. A town that everyone ignored and even mocked. And he calls a young woman, probably a teenager, who is still a virgin and is engaged to be married to a man would rather cast her out than to raise an illegitimate child. Let's face it, in terms of modern society she was not the ideal woman for the job, but in God's eyes she was.
But why did God choose Mary? There are a number of reasons, but one that is evidenced in her prayer is that she trusted Him with her whole heart. Throughout the Bible, God chose the obscure, unimportant people who feared Him to do His work. He never chose the proud, the powerful, or the rich. If anything God cut those people down to size. But in every major event in the Bible, God used the lowly in order for His mercy, grace and power to be displayed. He did this in almost every generation of Israel from the Exodus to the closing of the Old Testament. And God was doing it again. This time through Mary and her cousin Elizabeth.
We see here in Mary's prayer that she recognised this. Though God had been silent for four hundred years since Malachi, Mary still recognised His hand in her life. She praised Him for the great things he had done in her life, and for all people for generations. She trusted Him and worshipped Him wholeheartedly.
Our Attitude
We are living in a society that does not recognise Christmas for what it is. The person and character of Christ has been taken out of it. It is a season that has been reduced to parties, family gatherings, food, gifts and decorations. There are even many in the church today who do not celebrate Christmas because of it being such a commercial time, and also because historically Jesus was not born on 25 December.
The question that we are faced with then is not whether or not we celebrate Christmas, how even we celebrate it, but rather, what is our attitude? Do we celebrate Christmas with an attitude of praise like Mary did? Do we recognise God's hand of mercy, grace and power in our lives and do we express gratitude to Him for it? Do we express the honour and respect that is due Him? Fearing Him the way the Bible commands us to?
But we also need to remember that this is an attitude that is not only for Christmas, but for our whole lives. We need to fear God at all times and express our gratitude to Him for all that he does to and for us. From the mundane, to the miraculous, God is worthy to be praised.
As Christmas approaches, let us come before God on a daily basis and praise God like Mary did.
Just a Thought!
© 2012
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