Glorify and Rejoice

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

GLORIFY AND REJOICE

Luke 1:46-55

46 And Mary said:

"My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

NIV

We now hear the response of Mary to the declaration of Elizabeth that Mary is blessed among women. Because there is so much in this response we might have to spend several days, several devotions to ensure we glean all the truth within. The first thing we notice is that fact that Mary says eight times, “He has” or some form of that. Mary does not spend much time talking about herself as much as she does enumerating all that God has done. Let us take some of what Mary says. First she exclaims that her soul glorifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior. The reason for this is because he has been mindful of her humble state. She also states that she is his servant. That is enough for us to learn a life lesson today. First off we should be in such a frame of mind that our soul glorifies the Lord. The Greek word actually is the root of our word magnify, to make great, to deem or declare great, to esteem highly, to extol, to laud. My soul should be in that state at all times, the good ones and the not so good ones because it is not about me or my condition, but it is about the Lord and he should always be magnified because he is always worthy of such deeming, or such declaring and esteeming highly. Mary also said that her spirit rejoices in God her Savior. We should note there were two distinctly different words used in the Greek, for soul and spirit. One of the primary uses for the word soul is to define the seat of the feelings, desires, affection, aversion (our soul, heart etc.) whereas the spirit defines the breath of life, what animates the body. The point here is that all we are should be glorifying God and rejoicing in our Lord. Love the Lord our God with all your heart, your mind, your strength. Every ounce of our being should be bringing glory to God. If you’re happy and you know it, let your face show it. We should not be walking around all gloomy with a downcast continence. We should understand our humble estate as compared to God, and rejoice that he has done so much for us, that he is mindful of us. That alone is more than enough to glorify our Lord and to rejoice in him. Let us ever be mindful of him and give him all the glory.