MARY'S OBEDIENCE

This young, Jewish girl complies so quickly and easily and willingly to such a radical imposition!

God wants to make her pregnant while she is engaged to be married to Joseph!
She will have to explain to her parents that she has not been intimate with Joseph.  She will have to try to convince them that an angel really appeared to her and that God - through His Holy Spirit - made her pregnant.  They are going to be grandparents to the Son of God!

She will have to endure the scorn of family, neighbors, and friends.  Make no mistake about it, the harsh treatment of others can be unbearable!

How did she so willingly submit to this plan?  The Bible records no protest - as with Moses, or Jeremiah, or Jonah!  She simply asks, "But I have never been with a man.  How can this be possible?"

After receiving the angel's explanation, she simply responds (NASB):  Behold, the bondslave of the Lord;  may it be done to me according to your word."

But in that response is the explanation we pursue!

Mary considers herself a "bondslave of the Lord".  She is not the owner of her life - God is!  God owns her! 

Rick Warren points out that it is impossible to say, "No, Lord!"  If Jesus is your Lord, then you must submit to Him!  The only appropriate response to your Lord is, "Yes, Lord!"

Could this be why so many struggle with God's will today?  In an age that stresses the importance of self-determination, it's counter-cultural to talk about submitting!

Is Jesus your Lord?

Do you regularly submit to His will? 

When you understand - as Mary did - that you are His bondslave, you will also quickly, easily, and willingly submit to Him!  Even joyfully do so!

I Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB)
...do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body.