And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed…” Luke 1:46-48.
We say that God is love—not that He merely has love, but that love is part of His essence. So, every story that has God in it is a love story—when considered in the light of Scripture as a whole. We acknowledge our humble estate, as Mary did. Some of us even have cause to be ashamed of our past. But in His love God exalts us to a blessed place, a place of honor. This was the experience of the Shulamite, as told in the Song of Songs.
That kind of love is why Mary was willing to accept God’s offer, that she should become the mother of the promised Messiah. Her decision was costly to her. It certainly meant a definite break with her life as she knew it. We, too, are turning our backs on many things that once were important to us because we find surpassing worth in Christ Jesus. Knowing Him, we are learning, is far better than things that once seemed valuable to us.
God’s love transforms us. It is the Messiah coming to life in our hearts. Because Mary agreed to be the mother of Jesus, all generations would recognize her as blessed. We are discovering that, in Christ, we too are blessed. We have God’s approval. If transformation means anything, it means that we are being changed. Old things have passed away. The new has come. One old thing that’s gone now is our guilt and shame as sinners. Jesus Christ bore our every sin—past, present, and future—to the cross. He redeemed us. We never entirely forget our past, but God has raised us with Christ and given us the right to stand before Him.
The beloved woman in the Song of Songs wasn’t preoccupied with her humble origins; her attention was on the man of her passion. Mary lived in the presence of Jesus from the beginning to the end of his earthly life. Her focus was on her awesome responsibility to train up this child who was both son of man and Son of God. She taught him and she learned from him. As Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, Mary also matured—spiritual maturity as well as physical aging. Her humble origins remained a historical fact but were not always at the forefront of her thoughts. In Christ, we too have the privilege of living in God’s presence. Why dwell on our old self when we too have Someone far better to keep our eyes on?
As the apostle Paul put it, “…one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way…” (Philippians 3:13-15). We celebrate Christmas and look forward to a new year. Here is an encouragement to keep our eyes on our Lord. He is unfolding his love story in our lives. He has already accomplished some of His transforming work. Now is the time for us to disengage from the elements of our old nature, the obviously bad things and the seemingly good things. May we press on toward a more complete transformation. We have no reason to take pride in ourselves, but neither should we let feelings of unworthiness impede us. Our worth derives from Christ–our relationship to Him and His relationship to the Father. And true humility is keeping an open heart toward Him.
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