Title: Luke 01:26-31 Let's Receive Grace
Content The game must be played. Not all games are predictable. There are also variations. The predictions of ‘worry’ and ‘uncertainty’ in 2009 gave hope of possibility to people of hope. So, we welcome Christmas with hope for next year. Of course, at the end of the year, there is also a deadline for one year.
But just as the Magi followed the stars, Christmas is the star of our lives. God has chosen us in this uncertain world.
I didn't catch him first. It is God the Almighty who started a good work in us.
God chose Mary, a village girl who lived in Nazareth in Galilee, a village that was not really insignificant. She has no reason to be exalted. But the very ordinary Mary is chosen as the mother of the Savior who will come as King of Kings. This did not stem from Mary's actions, but was a one-sided choice of the Lord. Looking at my bowl and looking at my amount, we are the ones who should be rejected because we do not have the basic score in the life test.
“Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus” (verse 31). The problem is that the choice seems absurd at first. As a blessing, the conclusion cannot be read. The ‘virgin pregnancy’ incident is an event that will destroy her entire life. There is no precedent in history. It is a unique event that no one can understand. It is a miraculous event that cannot be objectified. Her marriage is blocked, and her life is blocked.
But Mary obeyed. It is accepting grace. This is what the Bible calls “faith”. As Hebrews 4:2 says, it is of no benefit unless we receive God's promises by faith. Even if it is life, power, and the road to the jackpot of life, if I do not accept it, it still has nothing to do with me.
Turn off the light of reason, trust him and accept him. Even now, there are many people who accept Christmas only as a greeting of the seasons. The great blessings in it have nothing to do with them.
“I am the maidservant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Through this faith, Mary gave birth to Christ. For her, this obedience changes her fate. “Blessed is the woman who has believed that the word of the Lord will surely come to pass. (Verse 45)”
Noah also accepted the extreme of absurdity. When violent storms cover the sky, when the sun in the clear sky dries up the earth, his family receives an invitation to a whole new kind of grace.
The story of the Bible comes true through the believer. Believers see miracles. Believers become the protagonists of history.
Since January 2009, the world has given us the darkest message. All that seemed realistic, such as another national bankruptcy and the global economic depression, were all hopeless.
However, we believed in the words, “I will be with you, and I will walk in the vision of a kingdom of priests who preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.” And obeyed. As a result, God made him the protagonist of more hidden cards than any other year.
The grace of Christmas 2009 comes to you again like that. God has chosen to give us grace. You must “choose” to enjoy that grace.