Luke 1:14-15, 17b
“But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord…and he will go on before the Lord…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah and Elizabeth were unlikely parents, being quite aged when the angel Gabriel announced that they would be parents. Can you imagine having reached your golden years only to be told you are going to be parents for the first time? Not only that, the angel instructed them them what to name their child and what his future would hold! God certainly had a plan for their son who would be known as John the Baptist, the one chosen to prepare the way for Jesus, a future all mapped out before he was even born.
Our own birth announcement may have been a bit more conventional but His choosing is not exclusive to John the Baptist —”He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1:4) It still amazes me that He has had a plan for my life all mapped out. God chose each one of us to be in fellowship with Him and to choose Him above all others. Sometimes we choose to take a wrong turn and go our own way for a time because He has given us free will. Others have turned their backs on Him completely and chosen to go away from God. Will you choose Him?
Father in heaven, it is hard to comprehend that You have known from the beginning the plan You have for each of us. Help us, O God, choose to follow the plan you have for us, to be holy and blameless before You with hearts that are yielded to You. Just as John the Baptist was born to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” may You prepare our hearts and help us prepare others for the coming of the Lord this Christmas, and for that day when Jesus comes again to rule the earth. For the sake of Your Son, we pray. Amen.
