Favored by God (part 1)

Luke 1:30
And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God..."

Having favor with God, what does this mean?

Well let's take a look at Mary's life:

• Mary was set to be married to Joseph, historically it is assumed she was between the ages of 13-16. At this time, she was told she would receive a child, from the Holy Spirit. This meant she would have a child out of wedlock, and not fathered by her soon to be husband. Not to mention the pressure of a junior high aged girl with the responsibility of giving birth to and raising the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

• Anyone who heard about her would think she was adulteress, and this was a crime that was usually punishable by dressing a woman in rags, dragging her into the streets, stoning her, spitting on her, degrading her, beating her and leaving her in the street as an example.

• Now Joseph,being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. However an angel came to him, and by God's grace, Joseph stayed with her. Most others, on the other hand, would view her as a liar and a blasphemer for saying God impregnated her, and a whore, for being adulterous, for the rest of her life. People would come to Jesus in His adult life and say "at least we know who are fathers are." referring to His mother being an adulteress.

• When Mary was ready to give birth to the Son of God, there was no room in the inn for her. She had to give birth in a stable with the animals.

• Then Herod tried killing all male children under the age of two in the area. So Mary and her new family had to flee.

• On top of all this, she would eventually have to see the torture, and crucifixion of her own son.

Most of us would not see God in this, we would not feel favored and would be in despair, thinking everything was going wrong for us at every turn.

Troubles and trials await anyone who seeks after God and follows Christ. He Himself went through troubles most of us could never imagine. However there is hope. In my next blog I will talk about why these trials are a blessing and why we can be sure God is guiding us through them for His perfect purpose and our benefit.

Are you sharing God's blessings?

Matthew 14:15-21

15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In the feeding of the 5,000, or the feeding of the multitudes, (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15) we see that Jesus gave the food to the disciples and the disciples then the disciples passed out the food to the crowd. What if the disciples had just taken the food Jesus gave them, thanked Him for His provision and sat down to eat? I'm sad to say that's exactly what a lot of us are doing today, taking God's blessing, thanking Him for it and keeping it to ourselves.

We are to be the hands and feet of Christ, we are to love His bride (His people) as He does. I assure you, when your life is over, God will not accept your thanks for His blessings if you did not bless others with them. Think of what you have been blessed with, whether it be a physical gift like, money, food, a house, a car, or talents and spiritual gifts, and think of how you can share these blessings.