You Are Highly Favoured

Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings,[d] favoured woman! The Lord is with you!

Luke 1:28

On 19 February 2008, at 18 years of age (3 days before her 19th birthday), a young lady Alia Sabur was appointed to the position of International Professor as Research Liaison with Stony Brook University. She in effect became the world’s youngest professor replacing Colin Maclaurin’s mathematics Professorship at the University of Aberdeen at the age of 19. Before these two there have been others and the reality is that there will always be someone who will come around to set a better record than yesterday’s. 

There is however one record that has not only remained unbroken but can never be broken, it is the record for the most favoured woman – Mary, the mother of Jesus.

No woman was ever so highly honoured as the mother of our Lord. Only one woman, out of countless millions, would be the means by which God will be “manifest in the flesh,” and the Virgin Mary had the mighty privilege of being that one. By one woman, sin and death were brought into the world at the beginning. By the child-bearing of one woman, life and immortality were brought to light when Christ was born. No wonder this one woman was called “highly favoured” and “blessed.”

The truth is that no human will ever be able to have the kind of relationship Mary had with Jesus no matter how much they try. It is not another record to be set or to be broken. 

However, as Christians today, we have an even better relationship with Christ! In Luke 11: 27-28 while Jesus was preaching, a woman was so impressed she wished she was the mother of this great preacher, her obsession was so intense that she could no longer contain it so she screamed “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!” but in verse 28, Jesus corrected her saying “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

There is a relationship with Christ within reach of us all; a relationship far nearer than that of flesh and blood, a relationship which belongs to all who repent and believe. “Whoever shall do the will of God,” says Jesus, “the same is my brother, sister, and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35).

Even Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, had to accept him as the Christ (saviour) and believe in him. She had to respect the words of Jesus and abide by them. 

You are also highly favoured today because of the unique access and relationship that you can have with Jesus. If you do the will of God, Jesus says you are his brother! If you hear the word of God and put it into practice, Jesus says you are more blessed than the woman who is called highly favoured. What a time to be alive.

PRAYER

 Dear Heavenly Father, I am grateful for the divine favour that allows me to be in relationship with your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me, Lord, to align my life with your will, that I may walk in the blessing of obedience and experience the closeness that comes from following your Word. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.