MARY'S VISITOR

 

MARY’S VISITOR

Luke 1:26-28  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary.  She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.  Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

Have you ever been visited by an angel and received a message of God?  I haven’t.  I have often wondered what it would be like.  Would I recognize him?  I would like to think I would, but I don’t know.  There are those who claim they have indeed been visited by an angel.  There are reasons to believe from the Scriptures that we have a guardian angel assigned to us to watch over us and I have been in some situations in my life where there is no reasonable explanation why I was not seriously hurt or killed.  But, I have not seen my angel or heard him speaking to me.

Mary was a young, teen-aged, Jewish woman engaged to be married to Joseph.  She was devout in her faith in God and God noticed.  He sent Gabriel, an angel, to Mary to give her a message from the Lord.  Imagine Mary’s initial shock.  God had been silent for over 400 years.  No one had had a vision, dream, or direct word from God since the days of Malachi.  People believed in God, but it was a belief handed down from one generation to the next for many, many years.  And now, an angel appeared to Mary and spoke to her some very strange words.  I am sure that it took Mary a few moments to regain her composure before she was able to take in what God wanted her to hear.

Mary was found to be highly favored by God.  I wonder what it would take to be highly favored by God.  What do you suppose God thinks of you?  Does He think good things about you?  Is there enough of Him in your life that you are found to be pleasing in His sight?  Isn’t that what we strive to live for, to be found to be pleasing and acceptable to God?  How confident are you that God looks down on you and smiles?  What does it take to find favor with God?

We must be a holy people.  We must love God more than anyone or anything else.  We must strive to live by His Word.  We must be submissive to Him as our Lord. We must be doing all that we can to serve Him.  We must be ready at all times for His return.  We must be a people of love and grace.  We must have the same attitude and spirit that Jesus had.  We must be quick to forgive.  We must be salt and light in the world in which we live.  If we do these things, God is well-pleased.