MATTHEW 1:18

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

TO PONDER

“Pregnant through the Holy Spirit”. You should say that out aloud a few times and let it settle in. We hear it every year at Advent. It’s very familiar to us, but have you ever sat with it a while and let it settle in? What does that mean for us? Well, the Saviour of the world became human through his mother Mary, we know this, but what may it mean for you and me today now that Jesus mission has been completed? Is it that we could all fall pregnant – with the possibilities of the Kingdom growing in our hearts?

A few weeks ago, Nehemiah 1:1-11 was read in Sunday worship. In this text we heard that God ‘moved Emperor Cyrus’ heart’, or to say it another way, God placed a thought on his heart. God moved Cyrus to send the Jews in Babylon back to Israel. It was a kind of pregnancy, don’t you think. A seed of an idea was planted in the centre of Cyrus’ desire and an act of great generosity was born.

In many places and in many ways, everyday, God’s ideas come to life through his people, who, like Mary, have said, “let it be to me, Lord, as you have said”. Saying yes to God’s move in our hearts is the way to a life of great and lasting joy and legacy in your community.

Prayer: Move my heart, Lord. Increase my faith and inspire a ‘yes’ from my lips. Amen.

Today's devotion writer by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra