“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it
unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.” – Luke 1:38
The
Christian life is a life of faith. The
Bible tells us in Hebrews 11 (the faith chapter as it is called) that they
“looked for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God.” This is in contrast to the worldly life,
which is a life of sight. The Christian
who is a Christian is striving, believing, and hoping for that which is unseen;
opposite to the man who is not a Christian.
A man without faith in God is striving, believing, and hoping for that
which is temporal. It is accept that we
are born into this world a natural man with a mind and propensity towards
things that are temporal and carnal; therefore it stands to reason that if you
are going to walk by faith then you must first experience some sort of
transformation; a change, a conversion.
Through faith, this is accomplished; you can be born again into a life
of faith.
The
Bible does not tell us a whole lot about Mary and Joseph before Jesus came on
the scene. We know their lineage, we
know they were engaged, we know some of their immediate family, and we know
that they were righteous (really that tells you all you need to know). The angel told Mary, “Thou hast found favor with God.”
One can readily assume that with a testimony like that, Mary was a woman
of faith, and a good thing to, because the task she was called to perform was a
monumental one. In these, few short
verses found in the first chapter of the book of Luke, this humble and amazing
women teaches us a valuable lesson about the life of faith. It is very easy to believe and have faith
when everything is as it should be. We
all have our little plans laid out in front of us, I did, I was going to
graduate high school, go to college, etc.
If the wind is clam and the boat headed due north following the point of
the compass; what great need is there for faith? I imagine (but cannot confirm) that Mary and
Joseph had their plans as well. They
were to be married, and have a little house, Joseph would likely take up his
occupation and life would continue as planned.
Perhaps two kids, comfortable home, nice neighbors, etc. Then one day, an angel appears, and their
world is turned upside down. I ask you
as I ask myself, where is your faith when your world is turned upside
down? Not where is it, that is to say do
you have it or not, but where is it?
What do you trust in? Do you
trust in yourself? Your sight? Your bank account?.......Or God. Where is your faith? The life of faith is proven through times of
faith, and in times of faith, where we place our faith can determine
everything. It is the difference in
Abraham and Lot, Saul and David, Josiah and Manasseh, Saul and Paul. Faith, and the life of faith glorifies God
and that is a beautiful thing.
Mary’s
faith was a beautiful faith. When the
angel came and turned her world upside down, she did not have to take a walk
and mole it over. There was not a long
line of questioning to the angel as if they were in the courtroom. She simply said, “Be it unto me according to thy word.” Beautiful faith, give me that kind of
faith. The kind that when the whole
world is falling to pieces and all my life’s ambitions are turned tossed out
the window I can say God “be it unto me according to thy word”; come sorrow or
pain, loss or gain. This is faith, and
a life of faith.
