You Are Highly Favoured
Let’s look at another message from a Christmas angel this week. Mary the mother of Jesus had a wonderful encounter with an angel in Luke 1, where we read firstly: “The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured!... you have found favour with God.” (Luke 1:28, 30 NIV)
In years past it was my habit to spend some of my off days at the Mazenod Centre in Germiston. It’s a Catholic novitiate – which means it’s where the ‘novices’ receive their training. Prospective priests will do part of their long training journey there.
Finding Grace: The Universality of God's Favor Through Faith
It’s a remarkably peaceful place, and my friend Father Rodney who ran the place would graciously open up for me on a Thursday and I would walk the grounds, and sit in the lounge or the chapel or a room in silence.
Being a lover of books, I always spent time in the library there. And I remember one day spending much time combing through that library, and seeing book after book after book about Mary. As you may know, in Catholic scholarship and thinking, Mary is revered as a sinless saint. She is thought to be the product of immaculate conception, herself.
She is called the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one of the famous Catholic prayers is Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee, blessed art thou among women.
But the Scripture is quite clear: Mary is highly favoured by God, but she is not above anybody else. You and I can, like Mary, be favoured by God. In fact, the Hebrew word which is translated as favour in this verse is translated elsewhere in the New Testament, when Paul uses it, as grace. You could read this as ‘you have found grace in the eyes of God’!
ALL people can find the grace of God!
To be favoured by God, do you know what you need? You don’t have to have been the product of immaculate conception. You don’t have to have never sinned. What you need, is faith!
Discovering God's Favor Through Faith this Christmas
FAITH that God is who he claims to be in this book!
FAITH that Jesus is His Son, and that His death bought your forgiveness.
FAITH that His Spirit is in you, and FAITH that you are able to live the life He has called you to.
God’s favoured ones are those who have believed in Him with all their hearts, who have called on His name in faith, believing that He will save them and give them life! God grants favour (or grace) to those who do this.
This Christmas, find favour with God. We can overlook him, live apart from Him, do our own thing, or we can cry out to Him as our God, our Saviour, our Lord, our closest friend, and find his favour and His grace.
