And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me.”

Devotion based on Luke 1:46-49

“She picked me because she knows I’m the best!” says the little girl to her classmates after being selected by the teacher for a particular task. As much as we recoil at the scene, it strikes uncomfortably close to home for us. We all want to believe that we’re the best and the brightest. And there is a part of us that wants others to think we are the best and brightest, too. Those of us who are Christians are even tempted to think that we are Christians because God thinks we’re better than others around us.

If anyone in the history of this world might have had a right to think she was something special, it was Jesus’ mother, Mary. She was chosen, after all, to give birth to the Savior of the world. So, you might have expected Mary to stick her nose in the air and say, “He picked me because he knows I’m the best!” But she didn’t. In her great song of praise, Mary says the opposite. God chose her not because she was better than everyone else but because “…of the humble state of his servant.” Mary knew she didn’t deserve this great honor any more than any of her fellow sinful human beings deserved it. Rather than pointing out her own greatness, Mary pointed out God’s greatness. She sang, “The Mighty One has done great things for me.”

May we, like Mary, resist the temptation to think too highly of ourselves. Let us instead direct our praise to the Mighty One who has done great things for us.

Prayer: