The Lord's Servant

"I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said."

Luke 1:38

Considering all that the angel Gabriel told Mary, she must have known that God was calling her to make a great, personal sacrifice. Gabriel told Mary that God’s plan was for her to get pregnant out of wedlock while engaged to Joseph. Mary had to know that no one would believe this was a miraculous conception… a virgin birth. She had to know that this would bring shame and judgment on her. She had to worry that Joseph wouldn’t believe her and that he would end their engagement, which Matthew’s gospel tells us he very nearly did.

Don't get me wrong. Mary was highly favored. It was a great honor for her to be chosen to bear the Messiah. But at the same time, that calling cost her dearly. It threatened her happiness. It altered the course of her life. And it required great sacrifice of her. As Simeon says in Luke 2:35, a sword would pierce Mary’s own soul too as a result of God’s plan for her life.

Mary surely must have understood at least some of this, but look at how she responds to the angel Gabriel's announcement! She didn’t do what Moses did. She didn’t try to convince God to choose someone else. She didn’t ask God for a sign like Gideon did. She didn’t run away from God’s calling on her life like Jonah did. No, Mary simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

First, she said, “I am the Lord’s servant (or slave).” Oh, that those five words were the motto of every Christian! How different our world would be if more of us saw ourselves not as free individuals, but as God’s bondservants, created by God for His use for His glory. That’s how May saw herself... as God’s slave. That’s why she didn’t hesitate to say, “May it be to me as you have said.”

Following God, submitting to His will, would cost Mary dearly, but she was willing to risk the life she wanted to obey the God she loved. Are you? What is God calling you to that might mess up all your plans and alter the course of your life? Are you willing to say to Him today, ““I am the Lord’s servant…may it be to me as you have said”?