Friday, December 10, 2010 Thirteenth Day of Advent

Friday, December 10^th

Luke 1:46-55 – http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=158554077

Reverse Me 

Known as the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise for God’s goodness and faithfulness beautifully captures the upside-down message of the gospel: the Almighty God favors the lowly, the weak, the poor.  The gospel of Jesus reverses the tides of this world.  Despite all appearances, God does not favor the strong and powerful of our world; instead, God favors the lowly, the hungry, the poor.  In fact, in God’s grand scheme of salvation, the poor will be made rich, the hungry will be well-fed, and the lowly will be exalted.  God chooses the “least of these” to bring salvation to the earth.  After all, God chose Mary – a young, unmarried girl – to bring Jesus into the world.  God does not choose as the world chooses, God does not favor the person with the best resume, or the person with the most money, or the person with greatest accomplishments. 

Along with our world, we often esteem the wealthy, the accomplished, the powerful.  We often strive to have all of these qualities, sometimes at the expense of others.  I invite you today to consider how our aspirations fit in the upside-down world of the gospel.  Are we looking for power and wealth at the expense of the lowly?  Let us Christians be a people who give up our desires for wealth and worldly success, and instead look to God for our worth and identity.

Kid Challenge: Ever feel like you can’t do enough to be cool?  Sometimes we are tempted to do anything we can to be cool even when it means we have to do something we know is wrong.  Jesus tells us that being cool is not what life is all about – the people who do bad things to have it all, like power and popularity, will not be rewarded by God in the end.  God was the most important thing in Jesus’ life and God wants to be the most important thing in your life.  Your challenge today is to give up trying to be cool when it means you have to do something bad, and instead try to simply be the person God created you to be.

Advent Blessings,

Laura

This Christmas, give the gift that only you can give,

                                   ...give yourself this Christmas! (Peter Mayer)