Advent — Love · Luke 1:50–56
The rest of the Magnificat. Mary sings about mercy for generation after generation, thrones toppled, the hungry filled — all in the past tense, before any of it has happened.
Count how many verbs are past tense. Why would she sing about the future that way?
The Lord passes in front of Moses and says his own name: compassionate, gracious, abounding in faithful love. Every mercy Mary sings about starts here.
God describes himself before anyone else gets to. Which word does he lead with?
He did not set his affection on you because you were impressive or numerous. God's love has never been a response to our worth.
Mary calls herself lowly. How does that fit with what God says here about whom he chooses?
You will show faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers. Mary's last two lines are almost this passage exactly.
Both Zechariah and Mary end their songs at Abraham. Why does everyone in Luke 1 keep going back that far?
We love because he first loved us. John will not let love stay an idea; he makes it something you do to a brother.
Ask God to bring one hard-to-love person to mind. Pray for them by name every day this week.
What are the Marks and the 3 Circles?
The Marks of a Disciple
Each week names one of these — the practices we are cultivating in each other.
- Daily Devotion
- Time with God every day, in the Bible and in prayer.
- Prayer
- Not only a set appointment, but a life of prayer at any hour, for anything.
- Generosity
- Giving your effort and your resources to this church and to God’s kingdom.
- Service
- Giving your time and talent to the church and its mission in the community.
- Witness
- Seeking people far from God and telling them about Jesus and about your own finding of him.
- Worship
- Weekly praise together, and a life presented daily to God’s service.
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Fasting, solitude, study, sabbath — the old practices of the faith.
The 3 Circles
How we tell someone about Jesus — simple enough to draw on a napkin. Each week names the part of it that week’s reading sits in.
- God’s Design
- The world and your life as God made them to be.
- Sin
- The arrow out. We each go our own way instead.
- Brokenness
- Where that leaves us. Ecclesiastes spends most of twelve chapters here.
- Repent & Believe
- Turning from our own way and trusting what Jesus did.
- Gospel
- Jesus lived the life we could not and died the death we deserved.
- Recover & Pursue
- The way back toward the life God designed.