God Looks At Our Heart
Dear Friends,
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| God Looks at the Heart |
I've been thinking a great deal about Mary, the mother of Jesus, over these past few days.
Would you or I have chosen Mary if we were looking for someone to be the mother of God's only Son? I wonder if I would have looked for a woman who had experience in being a good mother, who knew what she was doing. A woman who came from a wealthy family and had the means to give Jesus all that he could possibly need.
Yet God didn't choose a woman like that. He chose Mary, a nobody, a girl in her early to mid-teens, from the small village of Nazareth, of which was said: "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (see John 1:46)
When God chose Mary, I don't believe he saw a nobody, he looked at her heart and he saw someone just right for being the mother of his Son. He saw a woman after his own heart. He saw in her just what he saw in David, one of her ancestors, born many years before her.
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.' Acts 13:22 (NLT)
1. Her humility.
Her response to the Angel's message that God had chosen her was: “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Luke 1:38 (NLT)
2. Her faith.
She believes everything the Angel tells her, see Luke 1:26-38 I find her faith absolutely incredible and I can't help but wonder what my own response would have been had I been in her place.
3. Her obedience.
Her obedience comes from her faith which is a living and active one. Her faith is demonstrated in her obedience and in her words: "May everything you have said about me come true."
4. Her relationship with God.
The Angel reassures her that "The Lord is with you!" Luke 1:28 (NLT)
I believe Mary had a close relationship with God, evident in her humility, her faith, and her obedience. She doesn't just know about God, she knows him and has a loving relationship with him. Her song of praise (see Luke 1:46-55) is evidence of her relationship with God and proof that she really does know him.
I also believe that Mary meditated throughout her life on God's Word. His word was food for her soul. We are told when the shepherds came to visit Mary, Joseph, and the newly born Jesus that "Mary treasured all these things, giving careful thought to them and pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:19 (AMP) Do I keep and treasure God's Word in my heart? Do I take time in the quiet to meditate and reflect carefully on all that God has taught me?
My musings (or I could say ponderings) on Mary have led me to see what a remarkable woman she really was. What an incredible example she is for us today and how she is someone worth imitating. God looked at her heart and saw someone ordinary through whom he could do extraordinary things because of her humility, her faith, her obedience and her desire to live in close relationship with him. Oh, that I would be a woman like her. Someone of whom God can say "She is a woman after my own heart."
To Think About:
Like Mary, will you submit to God's plan for you and say: “I am the Lord’s servant."?
Do you sense God calling you to obey him? Will you obey even if you don't fully understand what he may be asking of you?
Will you make room, not just over the Christmas season, but in the coming weeks ahead, to ponder on God's Word? How can you make this a regular habit for the coming year?
Vicki
If what you read was of interest to you, then you may like to know that my book "Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" is available to buy from Amazon, now on Kindle as well as in paperback. (Its content is material adapted from previous blog posts.) To learn more, click on the link below:
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