You know the story. An angel shows up to a teenage girl in the midst of her morning chores, declaring that she’s going to have a child that will be the Son of God. Mary, though shocked, accepts the angel’s words as true and responds in praise. A few weeks later she travels to stay with her cousin Elizabeth who has had a similarly miraculous pregnancy (though without the whole son of God thing). When Mary shows up at Elizabeth’s house she is greeted with a prophecy.
“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Luke 1:45
Blessed for Believing
Faith is what pleases God most. The majority of the book of Romans is filled with the Apostle Paul making a case for this, and he begins with the statement, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ (Romans 1:17) Faith is what pleases God and gathers blessing for those who believe – hence Elizabeth’s statement “Blessed is she who has believed”!
Despite all common sense to the contrary, Mary took God at his word. That’s how those who are righteous live. Faith is taking God at his word, believing that the Lord will fulfill his promises, regardless of what common sense or circumstance says.
How will you do that today? In Christ God has made countless promises to us, and I want us to be able to come to the end of our day and have it declared over us “Blessed are you who have believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises!”
It is there, in that life of faith and the eternal fruit that comes from it, that true blessing is found. Of course, that blessing might not look like what you’d expect. It certainly didn’t for Mary. But that’s a topic for another post.
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