I am the Lord's servant

December 22, 2019 | Bob Rottmann

About this post: This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals where we are exploring Jesus' life through the book of John. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text zpcdevo to 39970. We welcome your comments and questions each day.

About the author: Bob Rottmann and his wife Gloria have been members of ZPC for two years. They have been retired since 2003 and live at The Stratford at West Clay. They participate in Second Half Adventurers, the Olney Home Group, and serve as asked. They have traveled extensively, including two trips to Israel.

Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

WOW! How would you react if you had an ANGEL tell you to completely change your life? I am not sure that I have the faith and trust that Mary demonstrates in our scripture reading today. Let us consider what the angel Gabriel told Mary:

  • You are receiving God’s grace.
  • You will give birth to a son and name him Jesus.
  • He will be called the Son of the Most High, have the throne of David, and his kingdom will never end.
  • The Holy Spirit will perform a great miracle, and you will have a baby while still being a virgin.
  • Your son will be holy (sinless) and the Son of God.

Mary’s response is “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said,” Again WOW! How did a young teenager (maybe 12-14 years old) have that fully obedient and trusting relationship with God?

If you are reading these words, you know the results of Mary’s acceptance of God’s request to her. Jesus was born holy; he lived a sinless life; he suffered and died a horrible death that paid the price for our sins. He then rose from the grave and joined the Most High. BUT he did not leave us alone to face the sinful world. As he promised in John 14:26, the Helper, the Holy Spirit did come and is with us to teach us and help us remember what Jesus said and did.

The question is: Do we listen to him? Do we go through the doors he opens for us to help another person? Or are we too concerned with self? I can easily admit that I have passed by many open doors by not listening to the Holy spirit, who often speaks with a quiet voice to us.

The world is busy. We are busy. Many have ear buds in almost all the time. When is the noise low enough to hear the Holy Spirit whispering to us? As we are now in Advent and getting ready for all the social activities of Christmas, let us also spend time remembering Mary’s submission to God’s will and also be open to God’s will for us during this season.

May the peace and love of this season be with you and through you.

ACTIVITY:

Take a few minutes today to reflect on the past week looking for people that needed your time and you were too busy to stop and go through the door the Holy Spirit had opened.

Next, look for the open doors during the next few days and take the time and risk to walk through one or two.

PRAYER:

Most High God,
We thank you for Jesus and for Mary, both listened to you and did what you asked. We beg you to forgive us our lack of doing so. We ask the Holy Spirit to continue to teach and guide us, and we will try our best to listen to His whispers.
Amen.

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