God’s Favor
Gabriel begins as he always begins, as God always begins (since this is God’s message, not Gabriel’s), with the affirmation of God’s creation. “Greetings, favored one!”
Gabriel proclaims to Mary. “The Lord is with you!” Before she hears anything else, God wants Mary to hear this: She is favored. Although a teenager, Mary need not “find” herself. Her identity is a gift, bestowed upon her by God alone. Who am I? Mary may wonder. And God replies, “You are my favored one, beloved and beautiful to me.”
In truth, Mary does not stand much chance for an identity apart from God. She is too young to have had time to achieve much on which to base her identity. She is too poor to purchase her place in society.
Add to this the fact that she is female, which means that even if she did have accomplishments or social stature to her credit, they likely would have gone unrecognized because of her gender.
All of this makes Mary a most unlikely candidate for helping God save the world, which is precisely why God enlists her. Nothing about Mary suggests that she can be who she is apart from God’s favor of her.
—Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster
The Godbearing Life
I’m grateful for today’s devotional thought as it reiterates a truth that we all can stand upon when called to God’s work: it is not because of anything inherent within us that He’s chosen us, but rather because He’s placed His favor upon us; He’s called us; He’s set us apart; He prepares, equips and sustains us in the work He foreordained. I think we can also learn much from Mary’s example. She recognized herself as unworthy of God’s favor, and that in itself moved her to praise (a little song called her Magnificat is recorded in Luke 1:46-54). In her praise, she looks to God as the One who fulfils His promises and sees her obedience as a means of seeing God’s will fulfilled in and through her life. Let us pray for the faith Mary had in receiving God’s call and answering it wholeheartedly with praise and thanksgiving. Let us pray for the grace to do likewise in whatever God puts before us. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics