By Faith...Simeon & Anna

An old man and a widow who had spent decades hanging around the temple...these were the two God chose to validate the messages of the angels to Joseph and Mary a few months earlier. Mary and Joseph had acted, by faith, on the message of the angels. Will God validate your exercise of faith? Is it "faith" if we need it to be validated? Is it wrong to "try the spirits" at the same time we are trying to step out in faith?

Validation. That is something every person wants and needs. It is one of the roles the church is to play in its divine mission. We are to encourage one another. Just the recognition of the "other" is to validate them. God wants to be validated by us. We are to be individuals who "believe that He is..." 

The Apostle Paul said the role of ministers is to equip the Body (individually and collectively) with adequacy to meet needs. One of the great inadequacies common among people, whether Christians or not, is the feeling of isolation and lack of worth.

Joseph and Mary needed validation when they came to the temple with Jesus. God knew that. It was important to Him for them to be validated in the decisions they had made. It was important for them to be affirmed in their belief that this baby was Immanuel, God with them.

At some time or another virtually every person needs their belief's affirmed. We need our spiritual choices validated by someone we hold in esteem. The fact that we need this from someone in whom we have placed value (esteem) indicates our own need for a sense of value. We not only need our decisions and choices to be valued by others, WE need to be valued by others!

When a parent constantly picks apart the decisions, choices and accomplishments of a child, the child applies that lack of appreciation directly to his own sense of self and being. So, the child feels that the adult has no value or appreciation or love for him. The process of devaluation can begin with something as simple as an adult not paying attention to him when he is trying to tell them something. And, if there is something about which he is really excited and we don't share the excitement, something begins to wither and die within him.

God validates us. He says to each of us that we are His! He gives us identity, He gives us hope. He gives us a future. He gives us eternity. And, He gives us one another to validate - "love, even as He has loved us."