Advent Devotion for December 5th, the 9th day of Advent

Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, into my life and into the life of Your world.
 

Scripture Reading:  Luke 1:26-28

 In the sixth month (referring to the pregnancy of Elizabeth), God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

 

Devotional: God is always the initial originator in God's relationship with humankind. Toward us, God is always in overture. This love of God for us that is not caused or initiated or deserved by us, is called Grace, and it is the very object of our faith, and the source of our salvation from sin and death.

Notice that the overture is always an affirmation and a word of comfort, and is usually astounding to us for it articulates not only God's love for us, but also God's faith and confidence in us. And as we shall see, God's Grace toward us always includes a commission from God to fulfill God's Will in this world.

 Mary apparently possesses no evident qualifications from the world perspective to be selected and encountered in this way by God. It is a matter of Grace, a free gift from God.

 To assume that we by desert or merit have any standing or rights before God is an absurdity. Our relationship with God, and our salvation from God, are at God's initiative and overture in Jesus Christ. And it is constant, without ceasing. This is true whether we are aware of it or not. And it comes to us without ceasing as a message of love for us, of confidence in us and with a job attached to it for us in our particular circumstance to be about the business of our Heavenly Father.

 In this Advent Season, let us ask ourselves to be open and sensitive to God's reaching out to us in love and mercy through Jesus Christ, and with confidence and faith in us to carry out right now God's purpose in us and in the world in which we live. May we pray for faith and strength not only to hear and believe, but also to obey.

Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus.