The Why? (Luke 1:35-39)
"The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. At that time Mary got ready and HURRIED to a town in the hill country of Judea..." (Luke 1:35-39 NIV)
You have to admit, the writers of Scripture have an annoying tendency to relay supernatural events like they're no big deal.
For instance, THE Angel Gabriel appears out of thin air to an innocent teenage girl drops the following bomb shell:
1. You're get pregnant outside of marriage.
2. God Himself is going to cause this to happen.
3. Your Baby is going to be God's but He doesn't feel compelled to leave you with any proof.
4. Oh, and your baby is going to save the world.
That's a lot of earth-shattering truth for even the most experienced prophet to wrap their head around. I'm pretty sure even Moses would have soiled himself. I don't know about you, but if I were Mary I'd probably be thinking to myself, "Uh Gabe, I don't know about that".
Mary's response is nothing short of a miracle. She somehow managed to only ask one question, "How?"
And then incredibly, after only a two sentence explanation, says, "Ok" just before the angel disappears again into thin air.
But before we give Mary superhero status, I love verse 38 that says, "A few days later Mary HURRIED to the hill country of Judea...where Zechariah lived." (Luke 1:38-39 NLT). She didn't waste any time going to check the facts out for herself. She had doubts too.
But why?
Didn't she already believe God's message?
Probably. But a little investigation and confirmation never hurt anybody, especially when your life and the fate of the world depends on it.
Mary went because if this was in fact a message from God and not some hoax, then her middle-aged aunt Elizabeth should be visibly prego about now, and that event alone would give her faith a serious boost.
It's like the authors of Scripture give the exact same weight to the fact that Mary just spoke with an Angel as they do about her double checking the facts for herself. Faith isn't entirely blind and doesn't mean we never doubt. Since what we believe is always based on something, we don't really own our faith until we test it against the facts.
It's great to accept all of God's words by simple faith. At the end of the day simple trust is absolutely what pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). And yet, the Gospel of Luke and the entirety of Scripture itself was written, "so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught." (Luke 1:4 NLT)
We can and should have faith in and live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4), but we should also "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15 NIV).
It's great to know what you believe, but it's equally important to know why. "Faith is the substance what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 NIV). But faith is not just having hope in the unseen, it's also the confident assurance in the substance of that truth. It's not either or, it's both and.
Like Mary, if you want to add real substance to your faith, begin asking yourself the hard questions:
"What do I really believe?"
"Why do I believe that?"
Go ahead. I dare you.
Facebook.com/Josh1Eight
Twitter @Josh1Eight
You have to admit, the writers of Scripture have an annoying tendency to relay supernatural events like they're no big deal.
For instance, THE Angel Gabriel appears out of thin air to an innocent teenage girl drops the following bomb shell:
1. You're get pregnant outside of marriage.
2. God Himself is going to cause this to happen.
3. Your Baby is going to be God's but He doesn't feel compelled to leave you with any proof.
4. Oh, and your baby is going to save the world.
That's a lot of earth-shattering truth for even the most experienced prophet to wrap their head around. I'm pretty sure even Moses would have soiled himself. I don't know about you, but if I were Mary I'd probably be thinking to myself, "Uh Gabe, I don't know about that".
Mary's response is nothing short of a miracle. She somehow managed to only ask one question, "How?"
And then incredibly, after only a two sentence explanation, says, "Ok" just before the angel disappears again into thin air.
But before we give Mary superhero status, I love verse 38 that says, "A few days later Mary HURRIED to the hill country of Judea...where Zechariah lived." (Luke 1:38-39 NLT). She didn't waste any time going to check the facts out for herself. She had doubts too.
But why?
Didn't she already believe God's message?
Probably. But a little investigation and confirmation never hurt anybody, especially when your life and the fate of the world depends on it.
Mary went because if this was in fact a message from God and not some hoax, then her middle-aged aunt Elizabeth should be visibly prego about now, and that event alone would give her faith a serious boost.
It's like the authors of Scripture give the exact same weight to the fact that Mary just spoke with an Angel as they do about her double checking the facts for herself. Faith isn't entirely blind and doesn't mean we never doubt. Since what we believe is always based on something, we don't really own our faith until we test it against the facts.
It's great to accept all of God's words by simple faith. At the end of the day simple trust is absolutely what pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). And yet, the Gospel of Luke and the entirety of Scripture itself was written, "so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught." (Luke 1:4 NLT)
We can and should have faith in and live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4), but we should also "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15 NIV).
It's great to know what you believe, but it's equally important to know why. "Faith is the substance what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 NIV). But faith is not just having hope in the unseen, it's also the confident assurance in the substance of that truth. It's not either or, it's both and.
Like Mary, if you want to add real substance to your faith, begin asking yourself the hard questions:
"What do I really believe?"
"Why do I believe that?"
Go ahead. I dare you.
Facebook.com/Josh1Eight
Twitter @Josh1Eight
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