Monday, December 22, 2014

Being Selfless Like Mary - Christmas Devotion!

Tonight I am posting the last Christmas Devotion. I can't believe a week from today Christmas will already be over. I wanted to talk about Mary and selflessness for this last Christmas devotion because she is obviously such an important aspect of the Christmas story.
 
 
 
For some of us, other people look at our lives and see how together we have it. They see our talents and abilities and they give us compliments. We have every intention of giving God glory, but sometimes, we begin to believe in ourselves more than Him. God becomes a small part of the picture and we start to believe in ourselves more. We tend to forget that it isn't all about us. And even when we do acknowledge God, we perceive Him only as the God who played a part in what we have done. It is the different between the god who serves us and the God whom we serve.
 
What are some things that become gods in our lives? We often treat God like Santa Clause and want to ask him for what we want, who we want, and how we want things to work out. As we look at Mary, we see that she had no reason to rest on her abilities because she wasn't born very significant. She was around 14 years old, simple, and poor. She had a boyfriend but he was as insignificant as she was. She did however, receive a visit from an angel.
 
 
26 Now in the sixth month of her pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1: 26-28)
 
Visits by angels were often reserved for people that held some title of importance in that time you would think. Mary's life was instantly changed when the angel said "you are highly favored."
 
30 Then the angel told her, “Stop being afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. 31 Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen, since I have not had relations with a man?”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come over you, and the power of the Most High will surround you. Therefore, the child will be holy and will be called the Son of God. 36 And listen! Elizabeth, your relative, has herself conceived a son in her old age, this woman who was rumored to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 Nothing is impossible with respect to any of God’s promises.” (Luke 1:30-37)
 
Mary wondered how she would become pregnant since she was a virgin. But look how she responds:
 
38 Then Mary said, “Truly I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you have said happen to me.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38)
 
Mary was not born great and what was about to happen to her, put her in an incredibly dangerous situation. Where Mary grew up, women who got pregnant before marriage were killed. To Mary there didn't seem to be a lot in it for her.
Instead of saying "God bless me", Mary said "God, how can I bless you?"
Mary had to become selfless.
 
Many of us wouldn't describe ourselves as selfish but when we go on our own social medias we probably find a lot of me, me, me. What would happen if we were more like Mary? Would it be more like:
-This girl is just average but she gets up early every day and sacrifices sleep in order to pray for the kids at her school.
-This girl is just an average teen who uses her social to share the gospel
-This girl is a normal 13 year old who always has a kind word for everyone
-This is not a rich girl but always finds a way to give
 
We live in a world where everyone is trying to grab their moment of fame. (Alex from Target for example). What if it wasn't about us and more about God? How would our attitude change daily. Wouldn't you like to be apart of Gods story?
 
God used a 14 year old girl to change the world so who is to say that he couldn't use you to do the same again?
 
Feel free to comment or email me with any thoughts or questions! Talk to you soon!
 
 
 

7 comments :

  1. I love how positive these Christian posts are :)

    Jennos Health.

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    1. Yay Jenny! I am so glad you like it!!

      xoxo,
      Juliana Grace

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  2. I think its so important to consider things like this at Christmas. Religion shouldn't be treated as a wishing service and this post reinforces why we should appreciate what we have in life. Lovely :) xx

    VIVA EPERNAY

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    1. Exactly, that is something I have to keep working on daily! I am super happy that you got something out of it and enjoyed reading it :)

      xoxo,
      Juliana Grace

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  3. This is exactly what Christmas is all about! I'm religious so this is such a wonderful post to see up at Christmas time. x x

    www.beyondthevelvet.blogspot.co.uk

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    Replies
    1. I am so glad you enjoyed reading. I hope it put you in the Christmas spirit!

      xoxo,
      Juliana Grace

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  4. No problem! I am so so glad you enjoyed reading it :)

    xoxo,
    Juliana Grace

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