28th June, 2007

CHRISSI ELLANKOON

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

      Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

     "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

       The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

     "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

- Luke 1:26-38, New International Version (NIV)

So how many promises has God made you? Have all of them been fulfilled? Or like me are you still waiting to see some of them out worked in your life. God asks us to have faith, faith like a mustard seed, and while it may be small, it is full of potential.

The Gospel of Mark starts with an incredible story of faith. There are some many valuable lessons to be learnt here, but the one I want to focus on is the lesson that faith is a choice. Mary was a young girl who was still a virgin. The Bible doesn’t say that there was anything remarkable about her. She was not a great beauty, nor was she from a noble family; she was just an ordinary person like you and me. However this young girl was going to be the mother of the Messiah. It was going to be her responsibility to raise the Son of God. Just think about that for a moment. The child she was to nurse was going to bring salvation to the earth. What kind of faith would that take?

When Gabriel visits Mary and declares the plan for her life, she has a choice. As a young, unmarried girl she has good reason to be fearful and scared and to doubt what she has been told. Instead, in verse 38, she declares: “ I am the Lord’s Servant, may it be as you have said.” In this statement, we see what separated Mary from most of us. It was faith. She had an unshakeable faith that allowed her to rise above her fear and doubt and accept what the Lord had for her.

When God speaks to each one of us, when He declares what He will accomplish through us, He is often met with unbelief and fear. Often in response to God’s promise we unleash the whole gamut of reasons why it couldn’t be and why it can’t be accomplished. Mary understood that nothing was impossible with God, and more importantly she knew she belonged to God and wanted to be used by Him and referred to herself as His servant.

If we truly belong to God and want to be used in His service, we need to have faith when He speaks to us. We need to change our negative response to one that is eager to be of service and full of confidence that if God has spoken then it will be done.

The birth of the Messiah was accomplished with the faith of a young Jewish girl who knew the power of God - “May it be to me as you have said". Let us build our own faith by responding to God in a similar matter. I don’t know what God will call you or I to do, but I know it will only be accomplished in your life when you decide to respond like Mary - "God, let it be to me as you have said".

Got a verse or a short passage you'd like us to look at? Just send an email to editor@sightmagazine.com.au.