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Mary believed

How will you prepare to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World this year? Many people have traditions such as listening to Christmas music, sending Christmas cards, wrapping Christmas presents, decorating a tree, or reading the Christmas story, which help them prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth. During this Advent devotion, we will be looking at 5 different responses from people who were present for the coming of Jesus and we will look at how they prepared for His arrival. We begin with Mary and, as we will see, she prepared for the birth in three ways: she believed, she obeyed, and she praised. Let’s take a closer look.

Mary was 14 years old, a good Jewish girl who lived at home. She was betrothed to a man named Joseph who was called a righteous man. According to Luke’s historical account, she was visited by the angel Gabriel while she was in the year-long betrothal period. Gabriel calls her four things – she was highly favored, she was blessed, she was one who had found favor with God, and the Lord was with her. She was a very common Jewish girl but her faith in God made her God’s perfect choice to bear the Son of God. How do we know this? Simple – look at her responses to what Gabriel told her. 

When the angel tells her that she is favored by God, and that she will conceive and bring forth a Son who will be the Son of the Highest and who will be given the throne of David, her response is one of belief. She merely asks how this will happen. When the angel, by way of answering her question, then says that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, she responds again with simple yet deep trust. She calls herself a maidservant of the Lord. And when she does, she joins a line of people going all the way back to Ruth, who believed and served the Lord. 

A fourteen-year-old girl with a strong, deep, and simple trust… no wonder she found favor with God. What an example for us this Christmas. She believed God. This was her first step in preparing for the birth of Jesus. She believed. It begs the question this Christmas – What do I believe? 

For more Songs of Praise resources - podcasts and downloadable study guides, please visit http://www.gsot.edu/songs.