January 19 - The Right Fear

Read: Proverbs 9:1-12 and Luke 1:46-56

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10 ESV)

And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. (Luke 1:50 ESV)

At her incredibly young age I'm not sure that Mary completely understood the ramifications of God's plan for her life. I'm not sure she fully grasped the scope who Jesus would be, yet she fully embraced God's plan. The biblical author Luke records a word of praise she offered up to God prior to Jesus' birth. It is a beautiful song full of meaning. One of the key parts is Mary's acknowledgement of her fear of God.

Some fears are entirely irrational. They seem to come from nowhere for no reason, and produce nothing positive. They are inhibiting or deconstructive in nature. Not so with Mary, or anyone else who displays a healthy fear of God.

We usually classify fear as something that either paralyzes or goads us into action. We think of it as the condition or onset of being scared. But the kind of fear that the Bible classifies as healthy is altogether different. It is not synonymous with terror. It is more akin to reverence. Fear of The Lord does not mean to harbor an irrational terror before God. To have the fear of The Lord is to approach God through the grace of Jesus, with reverence. Reverence is a holy kind of fear. It is a rational reaction to the unfathomable majesty of God contrasted to our own meager being.

Mary demonstrated this well. Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrated it as well. It means being able to go to God in fear without being afraid.

January 18 - Blessed by Believing

Read: Luke 1:39-45

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." (Luke 1:45 ESV)

Belief is powerful. It steers people to do amazing, wonderful, and sometimes terrible things. It shapes to core of what, how, and why we think the things we think. 20th century pastor, theologian, and author A.W. Tozer in his book Knowledge of the Holy wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Mary showed the quality of her belief. There was no mere lip service or emotional hype on her part. There was complete and utter devotion to her Lord and his call on her life to be the mother of Jesus. Her cousin Elizabeth proclaimed under the power of the Holy Spirit that she was blessed for it.

Blessing may not always look like you think it will. Honestly, it probably rarely will. God doesn't rain financial prosperity and material possessions on people simply because they choose to follow him. In fact, for many he probably works to help them see the reality of a blessing apart from those things. After all, as Christians we love and worship Jesus, a homeless traveling preacher.

As a further example of great faith look to the mother of our Lord. She believed and was blessed for it.

January 17 - Let it Be

Read: Luke 1:26-38

And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38 ESV)

Mary trusted God implicitly. The angel Gabriel delivered the news about God's plan and Mary embraced it. We never read about her doubts, if she had any, her fears, or her hesitations. She embraced the fullness of God's plan for her life. Using language that in the original Greek text implies slavery. In other words, she was declaring to the angel that she was submitting herself to the will of God for her life in every possible way.

That is a boldness and bravery that many of us would really struggle with. It is born out of Mary's intrinsic trust in God. She was mighty in her faith. Her hope rested in The Lord and he used her obedience to orchestrate the salvation of mankind.

What might your "let it be" look like? What do you need to approach the Father with and say those three words? Jesus himself prayed that prayer in the Garden the night of his arrest. And how can we take our actions and back up our words? Yes, we should go to God as Jesus and Mary did, saying "let it be," but shouldn't we also be demonstrating the same willingness to lay down our lives through our actions?

January 16 - Assumptions

Read: Matthew 1:18-25

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20 ESV)

Joseph, was cast into a difficult role in life. He chose for himself a virtuous and righteous young woman to take as his bride, betrothed her, and in the intervening time between betrothal and marriage discovered that she was pregnant. He did what many of us would do in that scenario, he made some assumptions, and not wrongly so. In fact, he showed a lot of character and compassion in his reaction to those assumptions. However, God's plan was superior to Joseph's assumptions and he communicated the truth of the immaculate conception and the destiny of the child with the young carpenter in a dream.

What kind of assumptions do we make? Aren't assumptions really just another kind of pride? Aren't they based on the self-perception that we are right about an issue?

Even in his conception Christ challenged the understood assumptions of the natural order. He challenged Joseph, Mary, and their family. He challenged their communities and friends. And he has never stopped challenging the assumptions we all make on any given day.

January 15 - A Just Man

Read: Leviticus 20 & Deuteronomy 22

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (Matthew 1:19 ESV)

Little is known about Joseph, but formal education was rare in rural Jewish communities and most boys learned trades early in life. The Bible tells us that Joseph was a carpenter, which basically meant that he built things from wood and stone. Having been identified as a carpenter shows us that he most likely had already passed through the typical age for education and was probably beginning his career. If so, this would place him in his mid to latter teenage years, or possibly his early twenties.

Joseph was betrothed to Mary, so when she showed up pregnant this created a legal and social dilemma for the young carpenter, not to mention the emotional ramifications. Legally Joseph had the right to bring formal accusations against her that would result in her death by stoning. Instead Joseph chose to forgive her and quietly arrange for a divorce. He didn't want to marry her, probably because he was yet to believe her story, but he didn't wish for her to come to harm either.

Joseph was a just man. The man that raised Jesus is shown in this particular example to be a friend to those society is willing to reject and accuse. He had every legal right to punish Mary to the full extent of the law, but instead chose seek a quiet resolution rather than a dramatic and violent conclusion. Jesus is also just. He has every right to throw the entire weight of the Law at us, and instead he offers us his very life. Jesus was raised by a just man to become a just man.

January 14 - Responsibility

Read: Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1:18-23

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 ESV)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:18, 22, 23 ESV)

The prophetic nature of the Bible is an incredible thing. The Old Testament is packed with scripture pointing ahead to the coming of Christ. The passage in Isaiah 7:14 was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was most likely a teenager. 2000 years ago it was quite common for Jewish girls to become betrothed once they were old enough to have kids. The betrothal was a lawful tradition that preceded marriage. It was similar to engagement, but had legally binding ramifications. It would typically last about a year long, as the young man would attain the young woman's commitment and then set out to build a home for them. At the completion of their home there would then be a great wedding feast, sometimes lasting a week, and they would officially be legally married at the moment of consummation. While the Bible doesn't directly state the specific age of Mary, the information provided, along with the knowledge gleaned from historical study of Jewish tradition, points to Mary being incredibly young at the time she became pregnant with Jesus. She was probably between twelve and nineteen years old.

We live in an age when people are getting married later in life and having fewer children, but in the birth story of Jesus we see that Mary and Joseph were set to be wed at an early age. One of the things that stands in such contrast to our society is how these two incredibly young people responded to the events that unfold within their lives. Tasked by God Himself to parent and care for the incarnation of the Son of God, Mary and Joseph seem well suited to the job...and they were perhaps only teenagers. Think about the teens you know. How would you feel about handing them the most important parental gig in the history of the world?

God came into history as Jesus. It was prophesied by Isaiah 700 years before it happened. Mary bore the responsibility of her eventuality remarkably well. How do we steward that which God has made us responsible for?

January 13 - Favored One

Read: Luke 1: 26-38

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. (Luke 1:30 ESV)

Mary was a poor girl from a poor family in a poor part of the world. Nazareth was a small village with only one fresh water well, a place with little in the way of sophisticated education or comfort. It is there that the angel Gabriel appeared to again announce the birth of a prophesied child. Mary, a young woman (she was probably a teenager) from an unremarkable place and family, found favor in the eyes of God.

Mary found favor with God in that she was chosen by God for God's plan to fulfill God's purposes. She was the one who would bring Jesus into the world. She was the one responsible for caring for, nurturing, teaching and loving the Messiah in his infancy and young life. She would also have to watch in horror as he was murdered by the Jews.

Sometimes favor means having things go your way. In Mary's case finding favor meant that she was launched into a life orchestrated by God in a way that brought salvation to all of mankind, including Mary herself. Mary's life might have seemed incredibly unfair had she let herself dwell on the selfish details many of us would consider important. Instead, she allowed her life to be caught up into a bigger purpose, a grander plan, and a Godly favor. Remember Mary's incredible example of faith and favor the next time you seek the favor of The Lord.