GRACE HAS A NAME

Luke 1:26-29

“The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin ...The virgin’s name was Mary.

Having come in, the angel said to her ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’

But when she saw him, she was troubled . . .”

Just like Zacharias, Mary came face to face with Glory in the form of an angel – and just like Zacharias, her initial response was fear. Honestly, Father, I can’t imagine coming face to face with Glory and having any other response.  The response of Mary and Zacharias was certainly in line with others throughout scripture. When Isaiah saw the seraphim flying and heard their cries, he was troubled enough to wail “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips!” (Isaiah 6:1-5)  Even reflected Glory was enough to cause fear, Lord. When Moses came down from Your presence his face glowed with Your glory and it caused mortal fear in the hearts of the Israelites so that they “were afraid to come near.” (Exodus 34:30)

We sing a worship chorus at church that I can't sing with full honesty in my heart. The song pleads “Show us Your Glory” and then says “I am not afraid.” Everything in my spirit tells me, Master, that if You truly showed me Your glory, I would be afraid – VERY afraid. You are a Great and Awesome God . . . Omnipotent . . . Omniscient . . . Omnipresent . . . Immortal  . . . Invisible . . . Incomprehensible . . . there are too many Great and Awesome facets to Your character to even adequately describe You. I believe scripture teaches that we SHOULD fear You – humbly and reverently. I think that fear of You is a proper response.  It’s part of having a balanced perspective of Your Person. Just a few weeks ago, You spoke to me in my quiet time about how fully I embraced You as my Father but how I was discounting the fact that You are my Master. You have enlarged my understanding.

Master, our society today has lost much of the fear of God our forefathers once had. Reverence for Your holiness is a rarity today. We have become such an arrogant people – unbelievers and Christians alike. We mindlessly listen to Christmas carols in stores at the mall and give no real thought to that “silent night” being a HOLY night. We are absorbed only with our shopping and spending and giving and getting. We confuse Your benevolence with Jolly Old St. Nick and begin to view You as our “Santa Claus in the sky.”  We watch sentimentalized Christmas movies on television without even realizing that godless Hollywood is playing with godly truths and distorting their meaning.

We have become so arrogant, Lord, that many of us today assume that OUR dreams, OUR talents, OUR visions, and OUR accomplishments is what the world truly needs. We begin to think the true meaning of Christmas is the occasional kindness we extend to someone at this time of year. Some even begin to believe, Lord, in their humanistic thinking, that goodness itself is God.

We have no fear of God in Christmas. Lord, forgive us. Christmas should bring a great and holy fear of God to our consciousness. When Christ was born, a blinding righteousness approached the earth – a righteousness that should lay us prostrate before You in abject humility. O God, have we become so arrogant that we think we “deserved” the light of Jesus to shine on us??  God forbid!! Do we think we "deserve" Your grace??

O God, let us rejoice in the tidings of great joy that Your mercy now crosses the great gulf between You and our sinful selves. Let us come boldly before You and fall down, even fearlessly, to worship You. Let us delight in the song of angels and the peace You bring. Yes, Lord, even let us cry with confidence “God has not given me a spirit of fear.” (2 Timothy 1:7) But may we ALWAYS understand that we do these things ONLY because of Your GRACE – a grace we could NEVER deserve!

To quote the song – “Love has come down – GRACE has a name – the name of the child is Jesus Christ.” Oh, precious Jesus, You are the light that shines into darkness and sometimes that can be a fearful thing. John wrote that “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” (3:19)  Remove this arrogance of the world from us, Your children. Cause us to tremble before the Living God and help us to rejoice when we hear you say “Do not be afraid. I have not come to punish but to give you life. I am the Savior born for you.” Rule in our hearts, Prince of Peace, in truth and grace and make the our gladness prove the glories of Your righteousness and wonders of Your love . . . and wonders of Your love. Let Heaven and nature – SING!  Joy to the World - LOVE has come down - GRACE has a name - the name of the child is JESUS CHRIST - the babe of Bethlehem.