Advent Day 11 - Magnify the Lord

Luke 1:46 (NKJV) — 46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

When you look at something through a magnifying glass, it looks much bigger than it actually is. Is that what Mary meant when she said, “My soul magnifies the Lord”? Was she trying to make God look bigger than he actually is? 

We can never make God bigger or greater than he is. The truth is, we can never fully take in or understand God’s greatness. But we can magnify him. We magnify God not by making him bigger than he truly is, but by making him greater in our thoughts, in our affections, in our memories, and in our expectations. We magnify him by having higher, larger, and truer thoughts of him. We magnify him by praising him and telling others about his greatness so they can have bigger thoughts about him too. 

Sometimes we wonder why we aren’t happy, why we make sinful choices, why we feel distant from God. Often it’s because we have small thoughts about God and magnified thoughts of ourselves, our wants, our rights, our accomplishments. Mary, the one God chose to be the mother of his Son, could have easily allowed her thoughts of herself to become larger, even prideful. But instead of magnifying herself, she magnified the Lord.[1]

-- Nancy Guthrie 

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[1] Guthrie, Nancy. Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.