Lifted up or send away

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

RICH OR POOR

PROUD OR HUMBLE

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

Our third day looking into the words of Mary that she spoke to Elizabeth and to all generations. We have seen that our soul should glorify God, and our spirit should rejoice in God. We have seen that God does great things for those who fear him and are humble before him, and that he scatters those who are prideful in their thoughts. Today we are seeing the he does bring down the prideful, the rulers but he lifts up the humble, as well as he feeds the hungry with good things while he turns away the rich. It seems rather obvious what our life lesson is here. There is a distinct difference between two types of people shown to us here. There is the rich and prideful and the poor and humble. When we take on the attitude of the world in as much as looking to self to achieve, and in the case specifically, financial success, we can be sure God will not only bring us down, but in doing so he will not provide anything for us. When we think in terms of storing up money for our future, we can be sure God will not provide for us and then we are simply like those who are not saved, living without the arm of the Lord. This is not to say those who have much are prideful. Many people have wealth and acknowledge God as their source remaining humble before him. It is when we look to money as our source we get in trouble. But when we humble ourselves knowing it is God who provides us with all good things, we can be sure his mighty arm will do great things in our life. Then we are living as he intends us to and in the end he will lift us up.  This might imply that those who look to money as their source, are not lifted up, but rather torn down. Could this be a vision of true salvation? Could this be a picture of who actually is saved and who is not? That is devastating.  Yes we know that we must be born again, but what does that imply? That we die to the way we live, and live in an entirely new way. No longer seeking money, but seeking God. If we actually still live for money then are we considered the rich and prideful and then sending away the rich might well mean not allowing them into his rest, or in order words, the kingdom, or eternal life. Being rich and prideful or humble and hungry, which implies hungry for him, or his word, has very large consequences. We must insure that first we are born again, then being so we are new creatures, who are now humble before God, and hunger for him, for his word, for his truths in our life, for his divine influence upon us. If we allow the thinking or philosophies of the world, the unsaved, those who refuse to accept Jesus, to infiltrate our thinking and we adopt their methods of living, especially in this case, about financial matters, we may find that we are really not living that born again life and therefore may not be counted in the number of the saved. So the life lesson here is huge. We have to  live that born again life, being humble before God, seeking him first above all else. So are we rich or poor, proud or humble? Are we lifted up or sent away?