The past two days of devotions here and here, I have written about 4 women who were in the lineage of Jesus.
- Tamar- a deceiver
- Rahab- a Gentile and a prostitute
- Ruth- a Gentile and a Moabitess
- Bathsheba- an adulteress
The conclusion has been that the lineage of Jesus has some sketchy people in it. The 5th woman mentioned is none of those. She is a Jew. A virgin. And one unlikely individual to be spotlighted. I call her an outlier because she is so different. You know her as…
Mary, the mother of Jesus.
We have to be careful with her. Some put too much emphasis on her and revere her. Some say we have to go through her to get to God. Others, perhaps as a knee-jerk reaction against both of those ideas, write her off as unimportant.
Mary is special because she realized the dream of every Jewish girl: to be the mother of the Messiah. To me, Mary stands out head and shoulders above the rest of the other mentioned. Besides the obvious moral and ethnic differences, when presented with the truth that she was pregnant (“How can this be since I am a virgin?”), and after receiving Gabriel’s explanation of the process, she didn’t ask for an instruction manual; she didn’t ask for his credentials; she didn’t ask for his driver’s license and Social Security number; she didn’t ask, “Are you absolutely, 100% sure?”; she didn’t ask for proof that he wasn’t joshing her. No…she said the “magic” word, the same “magic” word God wants to hear from each of us when called: “YES.” Her exact words were “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” (Luke 1:38)
God wants to hear those same words from us. He heard them from Isaiah: “Here am I. Send me.” (Is. 6:8). He heard them from Samuel: “Speak, your servant is listening.” (I Sam. 3:10)
Will he hear them from me? From you?
{Note: All Scripture quotations from New Living Translation}
******************************************
I’d like to remind you to check out my review of Glynn Young’s 5 book series on the Dancing Priest on my other blog. You can find it here.
The greatest gift we can give to God is our resounding “yes.” May we all have the strength and courage as Mary had. I know I certainly need God’s help to do so.
Blessings, Bill!
I totally agree Martha. I wish it was easy to follow through with the yes but life is a challenge. And, as you state, we need God’s help.
I would like to say that I would without hesitation say yes to the Lord when He ask me to do anything. However, truthfully I miss a lot of opportunities that God puts before me. Often times after the fact, I am left saying sorry Father, I messed that opportunity up, I realize now what I should have said or should have done. I have at times even followed in Jonah’s path, no not me, thankfully I did not end up in the belly of a whale.There are times I believe that I do follow what God ask me to do, He has surprised me with some plans I did not understand, but once everything unfolded I was amazed and glad that I was in the plan. Hopefully as I continue to mature in my walk with God, He allows me to be in more of His plans, and that I do listen and follow His directions.
I would have to say I can relate totally to your situation Gail. I want to say Yes, but I also know I have missed opportunities to move. (Sort of reminds if Philip had been more like me. He would have missed the Ethiopian eunuch). May we all mature in our walk.
I struggle with this… When to say Yes, When to say No. Is it from God? Is it from Man? I need to remember that saying YES to something means saying NO to something else.
I struggle as well Ryan. Discernment is so crucial. But the other idea is also important; saying Yes means saying No to something else. Hmmmm such decisions. 🙂
Mary’s reaction and response to God’s call on her life is certainly one I want to emulate every single day!
As do I Cheryl. It is amazing when you think about it and the change it brought about in her life.