Advent Devotions – December 21st

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Again, let us look at the comment from Keathley’s study on Luke 2:1-20 entitled, “Acclamations of the Birth of Christ”:

“The word “pondered” (vs. 19b) is the present of continuous action. Pondering the things of Christ must become our practice—a constant part of our lives. “Pondered” is the Greek sumballo and means “to cast together.” From this it came to mean to cast thoughts together in the mind, to reflect, to meditate. The suggestion of the grammar of the Greek text is that pondering these things was both a design and a result of treasuring these events in her heart.”

We all have a treasure chest in our hearts into which we store our memories, locked away in private only for you and God to see. There is a mixture there, of glittering moments, rich and glorious days, and the bits and pieces of tear-stained, shattered dreams. We store them all, and take them out periodically to ponder them – as Keathley says, we reflect and meditate on them. Sometimes we smile, and sometimes we weep. I am sure Mary’s heart was filled to overflowing with her treasures, and in the years to come I can imagine her sitting quietly, her face reflected in the light of the burning wick of an oil lamp, eyes aglow as she stared off, contemplating her memories.

Today, store some of God’s word in your heart, so you can meditate on His word whenever He brings it to mind. Consider these two verses:

“Thy word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11)

“… keep My words, and treasure My commandments with you … bind them on you fingers: write them upon the tablet of your heart (Proverbs 7:1, 3).

Maybe you can start with today’s Scripture verse – remembering Mary, a woman just like you and I, who said yes to God, who obeyed and made herself available to Him, and in doing so has become an example for us all.