Ordinary Person, But Available
Luke 1:38 (NIV)
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
It must have been a very challenging and breath-taking event to be visited by an angel of God at a rather early age and be told what was told her. Motherhood has it’s share of pain and pleasures as every mother would know…..to some degree, I think Dads do as well. But life is such that we learn to take the bad with the good. Mary was the only human present at Jesus’ birth who also witnessed His death. She saw Him arrive as her baby son, and watched Him die as her Savior.
Until the angel Gabriel’s visit, Mary’s life was quite satisfactory. She had recently become engaged to a carpenter, Joseph, and was anticipating married life. But her life was about to change forever.
Angels don’t usually make appointments before visiting. Mary found Gabriel’s greeting puzzling and His presence frightening. What she heard next was news almost every woman in Israel hoped to hear – that her child would be the Messiah, God’s promised Savior. Mary did not doubt the message, but rather asked how pregnancy would be possible. Gabriel told her the baby would be God’s Son. Her answer was one God so waits to hear from so many other people: “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said.”(Lk. 1:38) Later, her SONG OF JOY shows us how well she knew God, for her thoughts were filled withj God’s words from the Old Testament. (Lk. 1:46-55)
Within a few weeks after His birth, Jesus was taken to the temple to be dedicated to God. There Joseph and Mary were met by two devout people, Simeon and Anna, who recognized the child as the Messiah and praised God. Simeon prophetically directed some words to Mary that had to have come to her mind many times in the years that followed: “A sword will pierce your own soul.” (Lk. 2:35) A big part of her painful privilege of Motherhood would be to see her son rejected and crucified by the people He came to save.
We can imagine that even if she had known all she would suffer as Jesus’ mother, Mary still would have given the same response. Are you, like Mary, available to be used by God? He has a purpose for your life; we can all be ordinary people, but available for the Master’s use.
Mary found this to be true: A person’s character is revealed by his or her response to the unexpected. God’s plans involve extraordinary events in ordinary people’s lives. Our availability gives God the ‘edge.’ All He looks for is our willingness; He will produce the results.
“Thank you, Lord for using these cracked jars of clay to accomplish your will in building Your Kingdom. Little is MUCH when GOD is in it. Thank you for being our perfect Savior, Amen.”
Have a very Merry Christmas as we reread the Christmas Story and consider all the things Christ HAS done for us, and all He will continue doing for us as we choose to keep Him central in our life, EVERY DAY.