December 21| I Samuel 2:1-10

Ken Dillman
Dec 21, 2024
2 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

Personal Holiness

by Ken Dillman

As we journey through this season of Advent, we turn our focus toward hope, peace, joy, and love, as we celebrate the gift God demonstrated to our world through the birth of his Son, Jesus. Advent can also be a time when we focus on our pursuit of personal holiness in the worship of God.

In our text today, we encounter Hanna, a holy and devout woman whose heart was attuned to God; she prayed, asking God to give her a son. Hanna and her husband, Elkanah, regularly worshiped and sacrificed in the tabernacle in Shiloh; she prayed fervently and spoke with God as though he was standing next to her, committing to give her son to God for his whole life.

God answers and Hanna gives birth to Samuel; she then entrusts him to God’s care as she leaves him, as a young boy, in the tabernacle to be mentored by the priest Eli. Hanna offers an impassioned prayer of thanks to God for his mercy and goodness; she seems to have some vision of the future of God’s “anointed,” who will provide salvation for Israel.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, prayed a prayer similar to Hanna’s (Luke 1:46-56), as part of the Christmas story found in the gospels. When Mary is visited by the angel, Gabriel he acknowledges that Mary is “favored” by God; we get a glimpse of Mary’s pursuit of personal holiness when she does everything God instructs her (and Joseph) to do (Matthew 2:13-15.)

Gabriel tells Mary she will conceive a son, who will be the Son of the Most High and will reign over Israel forever. In response, Mary offers a song of praise to God for his mercy and for being her Savior, we know it as The Magnificat. Both Hanna’s and Mary’s prayers were their overflow of worship in holiness.

Pastor Louie Giglio, in his book, Worship as a Way of Life proclaims that “Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say…and the way we live.”

We pursue personal holiness as a response to all that God has done for us, keeping Jesus’ commandments is our expression of our love for Him, and thanks to God for sending a Savior into the world to rescue us and all fallen humanity.

PRAYER

Father, help us at this season to delve deeply into our own pursuit of personal holiness as we remember those in the Christmas Story who pursued personal holiness for your glory.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KEN DILLMAN

My wife, Karen and I have been attending UALC for 6-7 years and enjoy God's presence in our gatherings. We live in Hilliard; our three adult children live in Central Ohio. I am a retired Chaplain and Pastor, and enjoy writing, walking, jogging, and listening to live music. I appreciate the opportunity to write for the church’s devotionals.