Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 1 before continuing on to the devotional below.
We begin our journey into Luke and Acts, which will highlight a chapter or chapters at a time. We’ll be looking at a broader overview, connecting with themes that relate to emotional freedom.
Luke 1 tells of two angel encounters that announce the coming of Jesus. From these stories, we learn that if you ever encounter a real angel face to face you will first freak out, second experience extreme confusion, and third break into prophetic song. Or at least that is what happened to Zechariah and Mary.
Even more than their emotional reactions to the angel encounters (which I find refreshingly human and honest), I notice something bigger. Willingness. Sure, they kind of botched a really great angel greeting (I bet they thought of a thousand things they could have said to Gabriel after the fact…), but ultimately both Zechariah and Mary were willing to listen and participate in the unusual turn of events. Both of them step into a deeper place with God as they express deep humility and thankfulness for being chosen to participate in the coming of the Messiah.
Here’s your freedom for today: God has invited you to participate in his story. And this is not like one of those elementary school team-picking games in which you are dead last and God is stuck picking you. No, he knows exactly who you are and what your limitations are and he is drawing you in to play a role. Your role. God sees something in you that perhaps you’ve missed if life has knocked you down. Live today as that person he sees.