Amazed

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

AMAZED

Luke 2:33-35

33 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

NIV

After his prophetic words or prayer, Simeon speaks directly to Mary. It is interesting they marveled at what Simeon said about Jesus because Mary knew he was the Son of God conceived within her by the Holy Spirit, as she was still a virgin. Joesph also knew because of the message he received by an angel, and surely the two of them discussed the whole experience and understood this was going to be different than anything ever before and would never happen again. So to be marveled at the words of Simoen may have given them a deeper understanding of what has happened to them. Of course, this is sort of 'old hat' to us because we have the whole scripture, all the Old Testament foreshadowing and prophesies, then four accounts, three, at least coming from firsthand, eyewitnesses. However, should we not be marved or amazed about Jesus, considering the fact that He died for my sins, and because of what God did, he make it so that He would not hold our sin against us. Everything is because of God, and all we need to do is believe. All the benefits of being in the family of God, being a citizen of the kingdom of God because we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, are totally amazing. Sure, Joseph and Mary had some knowledge about Jesus, but they were still amazed that He would be the Savior of the world, and in this case, Mary would have to accept the son she gave birth to, would be her Savior, and she would have to accept him as the Lord. Jesus surely revealed himself to her, and He has been revealed to us. But the point we think that is important is that we should be living still amazed, in wonderment at the grace of God, almost so that we are bounding off the walls, at least, on the inside, even if we sort of look a little stoic on the outside. Maybe we look too conservative, to ho-hum in church, even in our worship. Should we not approach our lives, our worship, with this amazement in our hearts, and as Jesus said about what comes out of the mouth is from what is in the heart, then maybe we should still be talking about how amazed we are about all the benefits of being saved, a member of God’s family, co-heirs with Jesus and freed from the penalty of our sins. Let us kindle that amazement because we marvel at what God has done.