Internal worship

Yesterday as my family gathered to worship with other believers, our pastor read from Luke 1:46-55 as part of our worship.  In this passage we find Mary praising God with all of her heart because of the great joy she is experiencing knowing that the child she is carrying in her womb will one day redeem the world.  Mary is praising the Jesus that is in her, literally.  The one that she will deliver will one day deliver her.

Imagine what it must have been like to be Mary, living in a culture where women were not considered equals and pregnancy outside of marriage used to be a capital offense.  She finds herself in an unusual situation, visited by an angel who announces that she is pregnant while still a virgin but the child she is carrying is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  Perhaps she could wave it off as some sort of fantastic and vivid dream were it not for an angel relaying the same message to her soon-to-be husband Joseph (Matthew 1:18:21).  Assured in her heart that this was from God, she responded by worshiping the coming Messiah who was actually now here indwelling her physical body.  Mary was worshiping the God in her.

Through the miracle of salvation, we too live with God in us.  Though we are not called to bear the Messiah physically (this was a one-and-done deal for Mary), the same Jesus that she bore in her womb is the same Jesus who inhabits the hearts of those whom He saves. 

Are our hearts bursting with praise for the God within us?  Do we find ourselves rejoicing over the miracle of Christ in us, the deliverer and Savior of the world?  Mary worshiped for the hope that God had placed within her.  In Christ, we do the same.

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