But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
Luke 1:30 NIV
Favour With God
“Most favoured nation” is a principle defined by countries treating all trading partners equally and applying the same trade terms. The principle is based on the idea that countries should treat all their trade partners equally—that no one country should be “more favoured.” The World Trade Organization has made the most favoured nation principle part of its rules. WTO members are not allowed to favour any one country with, for example, lower tariffs on particular products without giving all members the same benefit.
***
It is natural for people to want to find favour with others. None of us want to be thought about poorly by others. None of us want to drive people away from us. The challenge can be that we want so much to be liked by others that we let go of our standards as Christians in order to be accepted by those we look on with favour. We who name the name of Jesus are called to honour the Lord in all that we do, and it is His favour for which we must look. During this Advent season, we are reminded of the wonderful statement about all of this made by the angel Gabriel when speaking to Mary. In Luke 1:30, we read, “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.’” We will never be Mary, of course. She alone was chosen to this unique role to be mother of Jesus. But we are all called to live our lives in such a way that we enjoy the favour of God in every part of our lives. I pray His Holy Spirit will enable this to be so.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley