Believe in good beliefs!

Luke 1:39-45

39A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.

Food for thought!

You are blessed because you believed! These words spoken by Elizabeth deserve our attention; what she tells Mary is true because she says it “filled with the Holy Spirit.” She is not saying it on her own; it is the Holy Spirit talking through her of the power of beliefs. What we believe matters, a lot.

Yes, if what we believe is good and holy, we are blessed. If what we believe is evil or bad, we are cursed. It means that WE ARE OUR BELIEFS! We make our beliefs and our beliefs make us. The best / worst example I can think of are the suicide bombers. What drives them to perform mass killings are their beliefs. The same with many others. Just these yesterday and today, we heard that in Pakstan, the Thalibans killed health workers that were immunizing children. Behind the Thalibans behaviour is due to their beliefs. Beliefs are dangerous, especially bad beliefs.

Good beliefs, on the other hand, are good. Good beliefs are a blessing. This is what Elizabeth is telling Mary: You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he promised. What makes Mary special, holy, mother of God is having believed in the word of God, as this was transmitted by the angel Gabriel. What would Mary be if she had rejected the word of the angel? Mary is Mary because she believed the word of God. And you are what you are because of your beliefs. To change yourself, you must change your beliefs. By the way, this is why Jesus begun his preaching saying, "Change your mind and believe (in) the good news" (Mk 1:15).

They say, one person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety nine who have only interests.  It means that you and me, are limited not by the place of our birth, not by the color of our skin, but by our beliefs. In anything we do, the outcome is determined by our beliefs. Once someone said, nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe that something inside of them was superior to the circumstances. “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on (believe) what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Phil 4:8).