Surrender to the Will of God
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.†And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38
Whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, one has to admire the courage, self-surrender, and devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Bible gives us no background to her childhood, the circumstances of her life, or the manner of her love for God. Yet, this fifteen-year old girl was sovereignly chosen by God to be the instrument for giving birth to the Savior of the world. Mary was willing to be ostracized, rejected, scorned, and ridiculed for her obedience to God. God was everything to Mary and she was willing to be an empty vessel for his greater glory.
We need the humility of Mary. She accepted God’s purpose, saying, ‘May it be to me as you have said’ . . . We also need Mary’s courage. She was so completely willing for God to fulfil his purpose, that she was ready to risk the stigma of being an unmarried mother, of being thought an adulteress herself and of bearing an illegitimate child. She surrendered her reputation to God’s will.
I sometimes wonder if the major cause of much theological liberalism is that some scholars care more about their reputation than about God’s revelation. Finding it hard to be ridiculed for being naive and credulous enough to believe in miracles, they are tempted to sacrifice God’s revelation on the altar of their own respectability. I do not say that they always do so. But I feel it right to make the point because I have myself felt the strength of this temptation.
John Stott, The Authentic Jesus (London: Marshalls; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 66.
HT: Langham Partnership Daily Thought