“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. —Luke 1:28–29
Repeatedly in Scripture, we see that God chooses to use people who are undeserving. For example, when God chose Mary tobe the mother of Jesus, He didn’t look down from heaven and say, “I see a woman who has something to offer Me; I think I’ll use her.”
Mary didn’t deserve to be used by God; to the contrary, she marveled at God’s grace in choosing her. She wasn’t chosen to be Jesus’ mother because she was worthy of the honor. The angel said to Mary, “Greetings, favored woman!” That phrase could be translated, “you who are graciously accepted.” If any of us is to be accepted by God, it will be because of grace—not because of anything we have done.
The moment we cease to see ourselves as undeserving instruments, chances are we will cease to be useful in the hand of God.
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Portrait of a Woman Used by God: Lessons from the Life of Mary of Nazareth
©2016 Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
Are you trying to make yourself worthy to be used by God? Thank God that we’re accepted solely because of His grace.