Happy Birthday Jesus

Scripture:
Luke 1:26-33 (NIV)

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Devotional:

Sometimes I think it would be wonderful to see and hear an angel come and give us messages from God.  But then I pause and think of Mary’s response. In just about every case of an angel appearing the response is the same.  In response to Mary’s response the angel stated “Do not be afraid.”  You hear those words almost every time angels come down.  I have often wondered why people’s first reaction is fear.  

Here we have a young woman, probably not much more than a girl, being told she will give birth to the world’s savior.  Instead of favor and good standing with society she faced ridicule, abandonment, and possible death.  After all she wasn’t married yet and she was going to give birth to a baby. Yet the angel said “don’t be afraid.”  Mary had found favor with God. God chose her to give birth to the most wonderful and awesome person to ever live.  I wonder what Mary and Joseph must have thought and felt those nine months before Jesus was born.  

The savoir of the world, our counselor, our comforter came into this world as a baby.  The Prince of Peace came to show us His love for us.  I can’t think of anything better to celebrate for than this.  Celebrating Christmas we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus our savior.  This Christmas we will have a birthday cake for desert and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  We will pause in our celebration to honor Him.  After all it is His birthday.  This Christmas take a moment to do something specific and special for Christ on His birthday.

Happy Birthday Jesus…