Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

Visit of Mary to Elizabeth: Sharing the Good News and Having Faith in God’s Promises
Gal 3:15-22

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” - Luke 1:45

When Mary hears from the angel Gabriel that she is going to give birth to Jesus, she has complete faith in God’s vision for her life. Mary runs to tell Elizabeth the good news of Jesus to which Elizabeth responds with the above verse. Through the stories of Mary and Elizabeth, we see God’s infallible ability to bless and fulfill His promises to those who are faithful to Him. Both Mary and Elizabeth have circumstances that should prevent them from conceiving a child, but hearing God’s promise to them once is enough to convince them to demonstrate their faith by sharing the good news they have received with each other. While Mary and Elizabeth were promised children, all of us as believers in Jesus, are also beholden to God’s promise. But what is this promise and how can we follow in the example of Mary and Elizabeth in sharing the good news of this promise with others?
In Galatians 3:15-22, Paul talks about the covenant that God makes with Abraham in Genesis and analyzes the words in Genesis to show that we as Christians share in this covenant through our faith in Jesus. In discussing “the law”, Paul demonstrates to us how our laws and or our own promises to each other pale in comparison to the consistency and power of God’s promises. When we as Christians make promises to God to be more obedient or spend more time in prayer, we often backslide into our old ways and are unable to fully fulfill our promises to Him. However, God never fails to fulfill His promises. As Paul says, it is faith in Jesus, the blessed seed of Abraham, that makes us inheritors of God’s covenant. Through baptism, we are born again through Jesus and welcomed into God’s grace through our faith in Him. We, like Mary and Elizabeth, are recipients of a monumental promise through our faith, yet many of us choose not to share this news. We hide our faith and often when forced to choose between the world and God, choose the world. As we go about the rest of our lives, let us remember the magnitude of God’s promise to us through Jesus and be inspired by Mary and Elizabeth to proclaim our wholehearted faith in this promise by shaping our words and deeds in the example that Jesus has given us.

Prayer
Dear God, we thank You for all that You have done, do, and will do for us. As we go about our lives, help us to remember the promises You have made with us and better fulfill our promises to You. Help us be filled by the Holy Spirit to share the good news of Jesus and everything You have given us through our words and deeds. In Your name, we pray, Amen.

Thought of the Day
God’s promises to us are everlasting. Through faith in them can we find the strength to better fulfill our own promises to God and obey His commands.

Paul Isaac
Carmel MTC, Boston, MA

Popular posts from this blog

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum