Birth Number One

After nine grueling months of silence from Zechariah, John is finally born.

Elizabeth, the mother, was quite old at the time, no children before, and therefore deemed barren. So when she had her first, and only, child there was obviously a good bit of fuss in the family. And what we see the family say is that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

It's interesting to me how much we relate, and yet don't relate to this passage, even these two verses. A miracle has happened, and those surrounding the one that was blessed rejoice with her! And they also acknowledge that God had great mercy on her as well, attributing the miracle to God.

Yesterday I was at church helping out with the Jr. High Sunday school and we were going around talking about gifts from God in a small group. I had each of the students go around and tell us a bit about gifts they they had received from God that they are thankful for and one student looked at me and said, "He defeated my mom's cancer."

Completely floored me.

I've known a few people with cancer, and many more that have been effected by cancer through family members, friends, etc. Yet rarely when that particular person is deemed cancer free or in remission, they are congratulated for beating cancer. Hardly ever have I heard people give the entire credit to God, but only half credit, with the majority of it going to the person that had cancer. There is much rejoicing with the person, but, from what I've seen personally, there has been a lack of recognition that God has shown mercy to them.

I could go on and on about this, but these are just my initial thoughts. Yes, rejoice with people who have been considered cancer free, but give all the glory to God for it is by his will and the knowledge that he has given the medical world that the cancer was able to be defeated.

During this holiday season, remember that the gifts that we receive, including life itself, are a gift of God, and never by our own work. And remember the greatest gift of all, Jesus, our only path to salvation, was not something at all that we could ever do.