The Mindful God

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE MINDFUL GOD

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  forever, even as he said to our fathers."

NIV           

 

We are still looking into the song of Mary and after her soul glorifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, Mary said that the Lord has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Once again, we can take a lesson from that statement. First, to live a humble life before the Lord and we would think that living humbly includes before men as well. It should not be difficult for us to humble ourselves before the Lord, as He is God, and we are His creation. He has given us life, and life abundantly, which simply means eternal life. there is nothing we can do that qualifies us to partake in salvation from the Lord. But, this goes against everything we have learned from the world as we grow from infancy to adulthood. The world teaches us to be self-sufficient, self-motivated, and self-absorbed. It teaches us that we are to be all that we can be, and as one commercial made the point that we only go around once, and grab all the gusto we can. Even as believers we try with our best efforts to make the most of our lives, trying for the best jobs, or careers that provide us with enough money to live out our dreams and desires, even to the point of storing up for our future. This philosophy has even invaded the church, with the possibility of becoming prideful about our position or title within the body or boasting about how much “Good works” we do. We think that if we were humble before the Lord and men, we would be always looking for a way to build each other up, looking to be a benefit to others. Yet, the most wonderful part of this part of what Mary said was that the Lord is mindful of the humble state of his servant. What more could be wanted than for the Lord to be mindful of our humble state as we live as his servant. God knows every aspect of our being, He knows our thoughts and is constantly there to influence our hearts. This means that we must first, be humble, and second, be his servant. We know what a servant is in that they are owned by the Master, who dictates every aspect of their lives. Do we really live as servants of the Lord? Although He has absolute authority over us, do we submit to His authority, turning all of our lives over to Him, or do we just live in the spiritual realm under his authority saying that He is our Lord and Savior because we desire eternal life, and we then make all our own choices about the physical, or how we live in this world. Perhaps the key to the Lord being mindful of us is our being his humble servant.