EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/13/2026 7:50 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The
Attitude of Worship”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
1:46-48a
Message of the verses: “And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has
regard for the humble state of His bondslave;” (NASB)
This morning I left of fwith a third point that John
MacArthur was making, however there is one more point that is needed and so I
will begin this evening SD with the forth and final point that MacArthur is
making.
“Finally, genuine internal worship is marked by humility. The two great hindrances of worship are
ignorance, which makes it feeble and ineffectual, and pride, which renders it
hypocritical. Those with a shallow,
superficial knowledge of God cannot worship Him in the fullest sense because
they do not grasp His greatness. But the
proud cannot truly worship Him at all, since pride is in reality the worship of
self. God tolerates no rivals, which is why the first of
the Ten Commandments is, ‘You shall not have other gods before Me’ (Ex. 20:3;
cf. Isaiah 42:8). Thus ‘God is opposed
to the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6), because ‘everyone
who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord’ (Prov. 16:5; cf. 15:25;
Ps. 31:23; Isa. 2:11-12; 13:11; 1 Peter 5:5).
“Proud people find it difficult to be thankful because
they always think they deserved better.
They remember the wrongs (real or imagined) done to them and seek
revenge. Constantly mulling over their
alleged mistreatment fills them with a spirit of bitterness, which is
incompatible with true worship.
“The humble, on the other hand,
knowing they deserve nothing, recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, mourn over
their sin, and hunger and thirst for righteousness from God, knowing they have
none of their own. They have a profound
sense of gratitude toward and love for God, which results in worship.
“Mary was such a humble person. Her exclamation, ‘He has had regard for
the humble state of His bondslave,’ expressed her wonder and amazement that
God would choose to bless her. She new
that she was a sinner, in need of God’s mercy and grace. Far from viewing herself as the exalted,
quasi-deified queen of heaven Roman Catholicism imagines her to be, Mary viewed
herself as a lowly bondslave (cf. v. 38).
The Greek word is doule, the feminine form of the word
meaning ‘slave.’ She is the first in the
New Testament to identify herself as the Lord’s slave—a designation that
becomes the norm for the saints (cf. 2:29; 1 Cor. 7:22; Eph. 6:6; Rev. 1:1).
“Giving further evidence of her
humility. Mary expressed amazement that
God would have regard for her humble state. Socially, she was an ordinary girl from
an insignificant Galilean village (Nazareth) scorned by other Israelites (cf.
John 1:46).” “46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come
out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.’” “Mary was thus far removed from society’s
elite in Judea and Jerusalem. Even after
becoming the mother of the Messiah, she never became prominent. Jesus treated her with respect, but made it
clear that she had no special claim on Him (John 2:4; Matt. 12:46-50).”
(John 2:4; Matt. 12:46-50)
“4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this
have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’”
“46 ¶ While he was still speaking to the people,
behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 48 But
he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my
brothers?” 49 And stretching out his
hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 50
For whoever does the will of my Father
in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’”
“Nor did
the early church elevate her to a special position, or bestow any particular
honors on her. The only New Testament reference
to her after the scene at the cross (John 19:25-27) was as just another one of
the believers gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 1:14).”
(John 19:25-27)
“25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his
mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your
son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own
home.”
(Acts
1:14)
“14 All these with one accord were devoting
themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and
his brothers.”
“This ordinary young woman was engaged to a very
ordinary young man. Though Joseph, like
Mary, was of the line of David, he was merely a common laborer. It was because they viewed His family as
nothing more than plain, average people that the villagers of Nazareth took
offense at Jesus’ claims (Matt. 13:54-57).”
(Matt. 13:54-57)
“54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in
synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get
this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother
called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where
then did this man get all these things?" 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said
to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own
household.’”
“But Mary’s humble state involved more than
just her standing in Jewish society; it had to do with her spiritual
character. She acknowledged that she,
like everyone, was a sinner, in need of a Savior. Like all true worshipers, Mary had a
lofty view of the Lord and a lowly view of herself. If she was the most exalted of women, she at
the same time was the must humble of women (cf. Luke 14:11).”
(cf. Luke 14:11)
“11 For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’”
“It is
such humility that God requires and blesses (cf. James 4:6). In Isaiah 57:15 God said, Thus says the
high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high
and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to
receive the spirit of lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’’
(cf. James 4:6)
“6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God
opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”
“So Mary demonstrated the proper attitude in
worship. She was joyful and grateful
because of God’s mercy to her. Her
humble awareness of her utter unworthiness and God’s marvelous grace to her
produced praise and worship from her grateful heart.”
3/13/2026
8:30 PM
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