Transformed – teen devotion – December 22, 2024

Jesus has done great things for you personally.

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me.”

Luke 1:49a

A Real Christmas Will Lift up the Lowly

How are you feeling? I mean… how are you really feeling?

A famous Christmas carol announces that, “It is the most wonderful time of the year.” So you must be feeling on top of the world, right?. After all, you’ve certainly aced all your end of the semester tests. All your relationships are rock solid. Everyone only has kind things to say about you at school.

Or maybe not?

Christmas time has a way of magnifying problems going on in life. It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, so why doesn’t it always feel that way?

Let’s move on to spiritual things. How’s the battle going with that one sin you pray no one else finds out about? How’d you do on that Bible reading plan that you started almost a year ago? Do you feel worthy of a holy God?

Maybe, just maybe, you’re feeling a little lowly right now. That’s a good thing, because a real Christmas will lift up the lowly.

Mary knew that she was not perfect. She acknowledged her lowly state. Yet she included the words from Luke 1 above in her famous song called the Magnificat, “The mighty one has done great things for me.”

Mary grasped the personal way God had shown her favor. He had chosen her to be the mother of the savior of the world.

The mighty one has done great things for me.

Slow down. Read those last two words again. Internalize them. It’s easy to look at others and see how God does great things for them, but it can be hard to take those great things and apply them to ourselves.

Think about all the great things he’s done for you. He knew you before you were born. He decided he wanted you to be his child. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He sent his Son to pay for your sins on the cross. He’s given you the certainty of eternal life through the resurrection. He’s washed you and adopted you in the waters of your baptism.

All of this for you!

You might be feeling lowly. That’s ok. It’s for lowly people like you that the God of the universe lowered himself took on human flesh that he might lift you up and make you holy and an eternal victor.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, no matter how lowly I feel, help me to recognize all the mighty things you have done for me. Amen.