Lessons from the Christmas Story (Part 2)
“Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38
The real hero of the Christmas story is Mary. An angel showed up and told her, “Mary, you are greatly and highly favored by the Lord.” In America, we have a concept of what favor means. We think favor means that you live in a big house and have a nice car. But Mary was called “highly favored,” and she had nothing. She didn’t have a home or anything to ride on except a donkey, but she knew God. You are highly favored this Christmas season if you know Jesus Christ, and He is your Savior. That is the favor of God, to know Him.
Mary was tasked with bearing and birthing something God had put in her. There could be a vision or dream inside of you, and God may be saying, “Now is the time to push. It’s time to birth something.” God has a calling, purpose, and plan, and He is telling you, “I can make the dream I put in you come to pass. You can birth it. I can make it happen in your life.” God is the one who put it inside of you, and you’ve got to push through the pain and difficulties to see it emerge. After the angel explained to Mary the significance of the miracle that was about to happen through her, Mary was willing to endure whatever it took to see it come to pass. When you understand His purpose, then you can handle the pain.
Mary asked the angel, “How is this going to be, seeing that I don’t know a man. I’ve never been with a man.” The angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” This is a huge truth for you to take hold of. You don’t just have to try to birth the dream God has placed in you. You only have to believe it. It’s not about you. It’s about the one who has chosen you and put the dream inside of you.
Mary turned to the angel and said (paraphrased), “Even though there are tremendous challenges in my life, nevertheless, be it unto me according to your word.”
Even though Mary was the mother of Jesus, God didn’t give her a nice little easy road to success. God didn’t kill Herod. Mary had to deal with that difficulty. You may be about to give up on your dream because you have some haters and obstacles. But if God didn’t kill Mary’s “Herod,” He’s not going to get rid of all of your problems. A common word used in the Bible by many of God’s servants who dealt with troubles was “nevertheless.” “Nevertheless,” says, “I know there’s a Herod, I know there are challenges, I know we don’t have enough money, I know I don’t have it all figured out, but nevertheless, I still believe it will happen.” When you know God has a plan for your life, you can embrace the pain that’s in the change. No matter what happens, you can say, “nevertheless,” God is in control. Despite the seeming impossibility of it all, Mary gave birth to that baby, and He became the great miracle we celebrate today.
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