A businessman asked me if I believe in Mama Mary, I said “Yes”. Then he asked again, do you pray to Mama Mary? I said “No”. I only pray to God through Jesus Chirst “alone”. He told me that Mama Mary influenced his life the most. Everything he has, everything he is now, is because of that influence. He believed, that God ordained Mary to be a vessel where you can petition for God’s help. Just like in our government, you can approach the president through his ministers, the same thing goes with God, he added. That’s why God has prophets to convey His message to the people, he explained. But the question is, do you pray to the prophet? Is this what the Bible teaches us? Did the Bible say pray to Mary? I strongly disagree.
I do recognize Mary’s part, being the chosen virgin who gave birth of the infant Jesus, to fulfill God’s perfect plan for salvation. He ordained all these to happen as they did to give us the only way to Him, that is Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel – that Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life. The center of the virgin birth is Jesus, not Mary. The Bible is clear in Colossians 1:15-20:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)
This is the whole summary of the Supremacy of Christ. By him all things were created, not by Mary who gave birth of Him. “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell”, He is the center of the Gospel. Let us not change this by injecting what we want to believe it is. Because we find comfort in our old ways and beliefs, doesn’t mean that is the whole truth. God is gracious enough to reveal His fullness in us through the scriptures. Let us interpret the scriptures through the scriptures.
Indeed, right thinking about what the Bible teaches about God and man and salvation is really essential. If our outlook about God is wrong, then our whole outlook in life is also wrong. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is our only hope for glory.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Colossians 1:27
Filed under: Devotionals, Life
