Previous Post – Introverts In The Church Released

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed;
the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.

He has mercy on those who fear him,
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.

He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
to remember his promise of mercy,

The promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

The beauty of Mary’s Magnificat always moves me, especially in this Advent season as I consider Christ’s entry into Creation as man and prepare for His promised return.  When I realize that Mary was a very young women, most likely in her early to mid-teens, I am humbled by her willing obedience.  When I consider that the circumstances of her pregnancy would call into question her very virtue- a charge of which the consequences in that time and culture were dire- I am awed by her courage and faith.  And when I consider that she bore within her the fullness of God made flesh, I am admonished and challenged in my own righteousness.

As I consider our vocation and our identity as Christ’s Body, I realize that we too are called to carry the fullness of God within us.  We are filled with His Holy Spirit so that we can be united together as the Body of the same Christ who was born to Mary those millennium ago.  Where Mary carried in her womb the incarnation of the Messiah, we are called to bear out together His incarnation together in our bodies as His Church.  The gravity of this truth brings me to my knees.  What a wonderful and terrible privilege!

Christ has indeed chosen us as His Body, therefore we must be dedicated and submitted to the Spirit of God within us.  Like Mary, we are called to lives of faith, courage, sacrifice, humility and love.  The womb of our heart must be a throne solely for the King of Kings alone.  He will not share His Lordship with any other.  And so all other lords must be put the Cross and extinguished so that the Risen Lord alone remains.

Who are the lords of our heart that seek to share the Lordship of Christ in our lives?  What keeps us from letting God’s fullness within us give birth to His Kingdom in and through our lives?  What are we going to do to give Christ not merely pride of place, but exclusive place in our hearts?  And when- WHEN- are we going to do it?

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” -Joshua 24:15