Favored One

Luke 1:26-38

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her,"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!"  

“But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."

The favor of God is an amazing and wonderful thing. In the Scripture portion above the angel declares to Mary, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" Mary was troubled and wondered about the unusual greeting. The angel did not ask how she was doing, what she was doing, or about her family or job. The greeting was not dependent upon her education, wisdom, performance or circumstances.

The wonderful thing about God is that His favor on us is not based upon who we are or our performance. God’s favor is based upon His character and His love that He wishes to lavish upon us, despite what we have done. His favor is founded on the character and sacrifice of His son for us. Though Mary’s outward circumstances had not changed, God raised her from the ordinary to the extraordinary in his kingdom. God pulled Mary from her world into His world and a divine plan for mankind. In the midst of her simplicity God granted her dignity and purpose that would sustain her through the tremendously harsh experience of seeing her son falsely accused, beaten beyond recognition, and sentenced to one of the most cruel forms of capital punishment.

Sometimes we fail to understand the magnitude of God’s favor on us because we measure favor by worldly standards as something we have earned, and in turn we expect natural results of promotion, financial reward or praise of men. However, God’s favor is much greater than the favor of men. God’s favor brings us into relationship with Himself where our identity and fulfillment comes from Him and not our achievement or circumstances.        1 John 3:2-3 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

No matter what your situation is today, may you have a sense of God’s favor, not because of what you have done, but because of God’s great love and grace toward us. “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.”

Andy