Luke 1:30–33

Luke 1:30-33 

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever received an honor and then realized the responsibilities that come with that?  I can't imagine being elected president -- it'd be amazing for 30 seconds, and then the pressure of dealing with so much power and so many people would come crashing in.  It'd be overwhelming.  I see the news constantly updating the salaries that sports coaches make, and then I watch press conferences where every action is criticized and see how they have to deal with recruiting year round and it seems like every week there is some new crisis.  It's hard.

  Mary is put in an incredible role through this honor... but notice how God will take up the action.  The responsibility falls to God, and so Mary doesn't have to be flawless.  Mary doesn't have to be perfect.  She simply has to say yes to what God is going to do in and through her life.

  The same is true for you.  You don't have to be perfect and flawless and perform under pressure.  You simply open the door of your heart upon which Christ is already knocking, and say yes to the things God wants to do in and through you.  God loves you and is at work through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Trust in God.

Luke 1:26–29

Luke 1:26-29 

English Standard Version 

  I was reading an article about building family vacations and it recommended ensuring to stop and see roadside attractions, such as the world's largest ball of twine.  There are all sorts of such places across America, including Carhenge and Foamhenge.  These aren't usually in urban hotspots -- they're typically fairly out of the way.

  What if I told you that the Savior of the free world would be born in such a place?  You'd probably be surprised, right?

  Mary certainly was!  The Gospel is a reminder that God shows up in unexpected places in unexpected ways.  God is at work, and not using the methods the world uses.  We have to be prepared to see God anywhere, everywhere, because God can surprise us.  God sees the whole world as God's domain, and so God will work at all times in all places with all people.  So may we open our minds and hearts to how God is at work, and may we recognize the urgency to proclaim the Gospel to every corner of the world.

  

Luke 1:24–25

Luke 1:24-25

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever carried something that you've been ashamed of?  Maybe it was for months, or even years.  It's hard to let go of shame.  In some ways, it worms its way into our hearts and becomes part of our identity.  We look at parts of our lives or things in the past with shame.  

  Elizabeth felt that way about her barrenness.  It wasn't her fault, but she still carried it as a mark of shame.  Here, in Luke 1, that reproach is taken away.  God knew.  God listened to her prayers, and God took away that shame.

  We can look at Elizabeth and say that's great for her, but God hasn't taken away mine yet!  But Elizabeth waited decades.  She and Zechariah were old by the time this prayer was answered.  Her prayer wasn't answered the first or fiftieth time it was prayed.  There's no easy answer here, no guarantee as to when God will act.  This isn't a formula where we simply plug in the right parts and wait for God to respond.  God moves when God moves.  But we can rest assured in the promise that God will remove all the shame and regret from our lives.  Healing and grace will cover that, and we shall remember that pain no more.

Luke 1:21–23

Luke 1:21-23

English Standard Version 

  It's tough to be part of these crowds -- you know something dramatic has happened, but you didn't see it, you didn't experience it, so you try and catch what you can, but mostly, you have to wait.  It's hard to wait -- Zechariah has to wait, the crowds have to wait.  

  There's an element of trust, too.  We don't experience something for ourselves, but someone in our community does.  So we listen to them tell their story, because it's our story, too.  We're one people, striving together, so we share in Zechariah's joy, even if it is incomplete, and we wait for God to continue to show up.  

  So we tell our story, and we listen to the stories of others, and in the middle, we wait.  It's part of the identity of the people of God.

Luke 1:18–20

Luke 1:18-20 

English Standard Version 

 As a reminder, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth have prayed for a child for years, but to no avail.  At last, he goes into the Holy of Holies and meets an angel, who tells him that his wife will have a child.  Zechariah, understandably, isn't so sure of this.  He has questions.

  The angel Gabriel, however, isn't really in the mood for questions, and as a result, Zechariah is given the opportunity to silently consider all that is about to happen.  

  Sometimes, God does this for us.  We experience setbacks, and we're forced to be on the sidelines.  While there, we have the choice -- will we use that time to ponder what God is doing, or will we complain and pout about how we ended up there?  It's an attitude question -- do we tune our attitudes to always be on the lookout for how God is striving to help us grow, or do we simply think the world is out to get us?  

  Over the long run, God wants us to grow into the people that we are called to be.  It's the process called sanctification -- it's only complete at our deaths.  So may we use all the time, even the idle time, to grow closer to Christ and listen to what God may be saying to our hearts.

Luke 1:13–17

Luke 1:13-17 

English Standard Version 

  Who knows how long Zechariah and Elizabeth have been praying for... but can you imagine that the scope of their prayer would've reached this far?  Here they are, two small people, and their story is woven into the grand story of the redemption of God's people.

  It's a reminder to us -- our stories matter.  We think of ourselves as small, and we are, and yet our stories matter to God, and we are part of the larger narrative as well.  God weaves us in, using our lives and our testimonies to tell a larger story, and the world comes to know Christ as King and Christ as Savior through us.  

  So let us, too, have joy and gladness.  For great is our God!

Luke 1:8–12

Luke 1:8-12 

English Standard Version 

  When Rachel and I were first married, I would startle her all the time.  I'd walk into a room and she'd jump, because she wasn't used to having someone else around all the time.  I'd always joke and remind her that I lived there, too.  

  It's funny to me that Zechariah is so shocked to see an angel here -- he was walking into the temple of the Lord -- what did he expect to see?  The reality is that he didn't expect that God would really show up!  He was simply doing his job, but in the midst of it, God showed up!  Zechariah was rightly afraid, as I'm sure we'd all be at the sight of an angel.  

  God came to deliver a message, and I love the imagery of the whole multitude of people praying outside.  What would it look like to do that for one another?  I wonder about that -- maybe it's by text message, or some other means, but wouldn't it be great for us to know that when we were facing something big, the whole multitude was praying for us in that moment?

Luke 1:5–7

Luke 1:5-7 

English Standard Version 

  It's easy to look at some people and assume that everything is easy, that they don't have scars.  Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.  But they carried a deep wound, as they were aged and had no children.  This was a hard thing for them.

  It's a reminder for us that even the strongest Christians carry wounds, even if we cannot see them.  Our faith depends not on our strength, thankfully, but on the strength of Christ.  This is why the Apostle Paul was able to say that even in his weakness, he found strength.  He had wounds, just as Zechariah and Elizabeth did, just as you and I do, and he looked to Christ for his strength.

  God is at work in their lives, just as God is at work in our lives, despite our wounds and fears and weakness.  That is not an obstacle for God.

Luke 1:1-4

Luke 1:1-4 

English Standard Version 

  The Gospel of Luke was written by a companion of Paul who was a physician.  The Gospel of Luke emphasizes God's concern for the poor, the outcast, and the marginalized.  The role of women and the work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized throughout.  We start with the announcement of John the Baptist's birth and move forward.      

  It's easy to assume that earlier people were more likely to believe in magic.  We think of them as less scientific.  But just like us, they wanted to know the truth.  Luke didn't simply take everything he heard about Jesus for granted.  He investigated.  He interviewed.  He wanted to give Theophilus an accurate telling of the Gospel, so he found the eyewitnesses and recorded these things, that Theophilus might have certainty.  People were making life-altering decisions based on what Luke was writing, and Luke didn't want them to be uncertain as to the truth of the matter.  

  It reminds us that our lives of faith are not built on rumors or guesses, but on trustworthy eyewitness testimony.  This was tested.  All of Scripture has been tested.  We can have confidence just as early believers had confidence.  Remember that many of those early believers had a very real life or death decision to make, and based on the evidence, they chose something that led many of them to death.  They didn't choose this lightly, and that gives us comfort in knowing that the faith we share with those early believers was researched and built upon a strong foundation.

Ephesians 6:23–24

Ephesians 6:23-24 

English Standard Version 

  Paul begins the letter to the Ephesians by wishing them grace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  Here we are, at the end, and Paul is wishing them... grace.  There is peace and love, but it's all rooted in grace.  When we bask in grace, we realize that we have been given a gift, one that we are not worthy to receive, and so it makes us grateful.  Gratitude binds us together, and the love we have for Christ and one another creates a true community.  Paul lays out his desires for that community in between, but our environment is bounded by grace, bordered with love, and within that, we are surrounded by God.  May we live gratefully in that environment, striving forward in unity, loving one another.

Ephesians 6:21–22

Ephesians 6:21-22 

English Standard Version 

 We do a lot on our own now.  Many of us are glued to a screen, living an independent life.  We are in isolation often, and true community is rare.

  Paul is reminding us how important it is.  Paul is sending Tychicus to encourage hearts.  Community matters.  We're not in this on our own.  

  So whose heart can you encourage today?  Who can you reach out to in love, that they may know how you are and you may know how they are.  Encourage one another, for that ties us together.

Ephesians 6:18-20

Ephesians 6:18-20 

English Standard Version 

  Here is the real key to it all -- it's not the weapons that make Paul successful, but it's the reality that it all hinges on prayer.  He is not the key to success, but rather the Holy Spirit at work in and through him.

  This is such a hard thing to remember.  We put such pressure on ourselves to get things perfectly correct, or we feel like we're not holding up our end of the bargain.  But God is at work in and through you.  God's power and wisdom are the keys to success, not your own.  Trust in God, and lean into the grace that surrounds you, day by day, for the words to speak and the actions to take.  God will never disappoint.

Ephesians 6:17

Ephesians 6:17 

English Standard Version 

  I still remember a knothole baseball game years ago where I took a pitch right in the earhole of my batting helmet.  I didn't feel a thing, as the ball wasn't thrown very hard and those helmets were pretty solid.  But it probably would have hurt quite a bit without that helmet.  

  Helmets protect the head, where the mind sits.  We need our minds to keep us cool and protected, especially in times of conflict when we are under attack.  We need to know how to use our swords, offensively and defensively, which in our case is Scripture.  How do we rely upon the Word of God for guidance?  If we rely on our own words and wisdom, we'll likely fall short.  But trusting in God... that is a battle plan to win the day.