Advent Alphabet - "S" - "Savior"

“And the Child grew and became strong (empowered) in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the favor and spiritual blessing of God was upon Him.” (Luke 2:40) After Mary and Joseph had taken baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated they returned back to Nazareth, their own town. Our text verse said that as a human He grew strong in three ways: 1) He grew strong in spirit (the Greek here word for spirit is “pneuma,” which means, “breath.”) He grew strong in every way as humans grow, spirit, soul and body). 2) He grew strong in wisdom (“worldly and spiritual”). He learned to be wise in the ways of the world, and to function in the wisdom of the Lord, and to know the difference. 3) And He grew strong in the Father’s favor and spiritual blessing, because He walked continually in obedience to the Father, and filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a Strong Sinless Savior. We should make this our aim to be like Jesus in the power of his might to live filled with the Spirit. It is not by our power or our might that we accomplish or overcome anything, but only through the power of the Holy Spirit in whom we are trusting (Zechariah 4:6). As I have watched the Presidential Candidates’ news, there has been one candidate that has stood out as being strong in spirit, wisdom, and God’s favor has certainly been upon Him. He campaigns with such a humble and meek persona, which has been his way of living and dealing with people since he was a young man and became a Christian. Many political pundits (supposedly), and most of the media have down-played, and some even have defamed him for being quiet spoken, calm and unattacking. They say to be strong you have to be loud and confrontational to win, and most of the constituents agree. They do not understand there is a quiet strength in meekness. This is the kind of strength that is needed for the Presidency. This candidate quietly lets the Lord correct his accusers and bring down the proud, (and in His time He will (Eccl.3:11). And in the meantime, and long before this campaign, this candidate went, and continues to go about “doing good” (John 10:32), just like Jesus. His life’s work was to “heal” those with traumatic brain injuries, or disease. He relied on God for His wisdom to perform these miraculous surgeries. And now, just like Jesus, in I Peter 2:23, “When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; when He was abused and suffered, He made no threats of vengeance; but He trusted himself and everything to Him Who judges fairly.” Like Jesus, he has chosen to serve rather than be served (Luke 22:27). Jesus came to earth not as a king, but as a servant – to minister to the needy. This candidate has spent his life serving the hurting and needy. His desire for the Presidency is not for prestige (he has plenty of that already) nor for power, but to be able to further serve his country with his knowledge, wisdom and strength, and thereby serve his God. Like Paul this powerful man knew what it was to be abased and live in humble circumstances, and he knew also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance, He learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want. He had strength for all things in Christ Who empowered him. He was ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infused inner strength into him; he was self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency” (Philippians 4:12-13). We too are weak people, but we have a Strong Savior!