Luke 1:46-50
Mary said: With all my heart I praise the Lord, and I am glad because of God my Savior. He cares for me, his humble servant.
From
now on, all people will say God has blessed me. God All-Powerful has
done great things for me, and his name is holy. He always shows mercy to
everyone who worships him.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I
have quite the Christmas nativity collection, and I love to display it
each year in our piano room. A few years ago, I acquired several
porcelain “Madonnas,” and I now proudly display those alongside the full
nativity sets. At first, I thought it was a little strange to add the
Madonnas. But I have to say, as I have studied scripture over the years
and pondered the circumstances of Jesus’ “conception,” I have grown
quite fascinated with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In the first
place, Mary was probably all of age 13 or 14 at best…and yet, she
exhibited tremendous maturity – especially for a young girl who was
“disgraced” with an unwed pregnancy. The fact that she quickly
recognized the importance of what God was placing on her – and humbly
accepted it – astounds me. Knowing that she might be ostracized by
Joseph AND her entire family because of this…yet praising God for His
“blessing”…is nothing short of incredible.
After studying other
Biblical accounts of Mary and how she “mothered” Jesus, I have gained a
newfound respect for her – and for her tremendous level of faith. I ask
myself sometimes, “Could you even come close to operating at this
level, if you were presented with Mary’s circumstances?” I simply don’t
know if I would really have her fortitude and confidence. I’d like to
think so…but what this young woman was asked to do was truly
extraordinary.
What God is asking us to do pales in comparison to
what He asked of Mary. Yet many of us are hesitant…full of excuses…and
fearful. We see the things that God asks us to do as burdens – not
blessings. We want to know “What’s in it for me?” We are anything but
ready to step up and out and say, “With all my heart, I praise the Lord”
– and eagerly accept His assignments.
But we can take a page
from Mary’s book. We can begin to trust God more - and change how we
look at the things He asks of us. We can take on a more positive,
worshipful, and grateful persona…and look for the blessings in the
things that we are called to do…rather than the challenges and
roadblocks. We can trust God and fear less…and we can begin today.
Are
you ready to emulate the Madonna? Are you prepared to risk everything
to gain even more? Will this be the Christmas season that you begin to
throw your fears to the wind and say, “It’s all in or nothing with
God…and I’m ready to go all in!”? Isn’t it time you made this level of
commitment? If a teenage girl can do it, why can’t we?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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