According To Your Word

Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38 NKJV)

As hard as it was for Joseph to receive the message of the Christmas miracle, how much more difficult would it have been for Mary, who would carry the Son of God in her womb? Mary was God’s chosen vessel to give birth to the promised Messiah — the hope of Israel and the Savior of the world. Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, when God promised to send His Messiah, God’s people had been anxiously waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.

If Joseph would be scorned and shamed for this surprise supernatural pregnancy, how much more would Mary have to endure, who would have the eyes of all who knew her looking down at her, not only believing her to be an immoral woman, but thinking her either insane or a bald-faced liar with her story of becoming pregnant by God’s Holy Spirit. Not only that, but as an unmarried girl who had became pregnant, she risked not only the abandonment of Joseph, her future husband, but her father might also reject her, forcing her into a life of begging or worse. Yet Mary received her calling willingly, saying to the angel, “Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary believed the improbable and the impossible, and she faithfully followed the leading of God in spite of the cost or the circumstances.  

Nine months later, Mary traveled nearly 90 miles, riding on a donkey, much of the journey being uphill, only to find that there was no room in the inn; she was forced to give birth to the baby Jesus among the dirty, loud, smelly animals in a manger. What a testimony we receive in her words to the angel! “According to your word.”

May this be the confession of our lives, not only this Christmas season, but throughout the New Year as we receive whatever God’s call is in our lives with willing submission, because God’s plan and purpose for our lives is always better than our own.

What might our Lord be calling you to do today for His glory and the expansion of the cause of His Kingdom? Are you ready to say along with Mary, “Let it be to me according to your word,” even when that Word makes absolutely no sense on the surface? Remember, God is able to do the impossible, and He is ready, willing, and able to do it through you.

Merry Christmas!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!