Let It Be According To Your Word

Luke 1:38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your

word." And the angel departed from her.

This is the time of year which draws us out to go shopping for Christmas gifts for family and friends.  We do our shopping after a good deal of checking where to get the best bargain for our hard earned dollar.  But, there comes a point where we have to end the research, thinking, etc. and just move forward and buy something.  Failure to actually buy is the result of analysis paralysis where nothing ever gets done.  But there is never a point where we stop praying.

How do you live your life?  Do you do things on impulse?  Do you only act after lots of thought and analysis?  Is there a delicate balance of impulse and analysis?  Regardless of how you live your life there is an important aspect we need to go over.  The words of Mary from Luke 1:38 are something we need to ponder deeply.  We need to stop what we are doing and give this some serious consideration, and prayer.  Can you and I honestly say we live our lives according to His Word?  I was listening to K-LOVE the other morning and there was this amazing statistic about what were the most searched things on the Yahoo search engine website.  The number two thing searched for is “Free”.  People are going out there looking for free stuff.  I don’t remember what was number one, it was at 5:00 AM and did not click.  But right after the announcers told the listeners what was number two a caller shared something that really stuck with me. The caller said she likes free stuff, especially her salvation that is freely given by God our Father because Jesus paid for it with His blood on the cross. There I was sitting in my car listening to a radio program and, right out of the blue comes this simple, yet elegant explanation of our salvation.  There it was in simple terms, GRACE.  By the GRACE of God we are saved, lest anyone try to boast. It is free, no charge, and there’s no tax on the gift.  Jesus has already paid for it.  And we can spread the good news of this free gift. It’s not like those slick TV advertisements that say “This offer is limited to the first 100 callers.”  It is not like we have to be saved by doing a bunch of rituals and things. This is too simple to be true for some who are cynical in their nature. Regardless of what doubters say, it is free.  And our salvation is according to His Word.  We can live our lives just as His Word tells us to by loving God with our heart, minds and souls.  We can love one another as we love ourselves.  We can share the good news of GRACE.  That is what His Word tells us to do. Is it too simple?  My question to you is why complicate it when there is no need to?  Nothing is gained by piling things on top of the simple principle of GRACE.  I have one closing thought for you that comes from His word in Romans 16:20 “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

PRAYER: Lord God Almighty, we thank You for our lives. We thank You for Your grace that saves all who come to the cross of salvation. We thank You for the Words You have given us to educate, strengthen, and comfort us.  We ask in our lives that it be according to Your Word. We ask this in the name of Jesus who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reign supreme. One God, now and for ever.  Amen