Mary, The Mother of Jesus

  What a distinguished title she bears! Mary, the mother of Jesus is "blessed.. among women" (Luke 1:42), yet, like the rest of us, she was merely mortal, merely human in design and purpose, but, like the rest of us, God intended great things for her life. He intends great things, not according to what the world, our friends and neighbors, perceive of as being great. Greatness is measured, I think, in Christianity, according to the humbleness with which we submit ourselves to God's will. The word "great" can be used to show  a large amount or a certain distinction.
  We need to look at how much of ourselves, how much of our will in fact, we are allowing to be used by our Father in heaven. How "great" is our desire to serve Him? Our rewards in heaven will reflect our willingness to serve. "The meek ....shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5) The great things that God intends for us shall be ours as we bend towards Him.

  Mary submitted her will to her Father and I admire her as I admire other heroes and heroines of the Bible. I'm awed by her because in her mere humanity she set aside her "self" and placed God's will for her in the preeminent spot. She carried her cross before Jesus instructed us to do so.

  She was clearly human and not to be reverenced, as some do reverence her, but she is to be respected.

  To be an unmarried pregnant teenage girl is probably the least on any wish-lists of aspirations for our lives. Yet, after the angel explained God's purpose for her,  "...Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38 a,b KJV).

  Oh, to be like Mary! Completely subservient to God's will for our lives should be every human being's desire! To live as He wants us to live and to live out His calling on our lives should be our hope and our dream! We are so caught up in our humanity and our selfish wishes that we forget that God intends a greater purpose for us than what we conjure up in our own minds. The possibilities with God are limitless! Yet, we limit our possibilities by getting in God's way. We organize and plan and presume what God wants for us. Our presuming gets in the way of our ultimate fulfillment! Our desires ultimately bring our defeat, UNLESS they are in alignment with God's will for our lives.

  Pray, pray pray, every Christian, every seeker of truth and beauty. Beauty, real beauty, can only be found in holiness.* Mary was beautiful, to be sure. This lovely young woman was beautiful in her adoration of her heavenly Father. Her devotion of Him was manifest in her heart.  

  Luke 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, ⁽⁴⁷)And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. ⁽⁴⁸)For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. ⁽⁴⁹⁾For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. ⁽⁵⁰⁾And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. ⁽⁵¹) He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. ⁽⁵²⁾He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. ⁽⁵³)He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.⁽⁵⁴)He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; ⁽⁵⁵)As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. "(KJV)

   

  Mary understood this much of the will of God for our lives. In verse 2 she exclaims "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." It is understood that Mary and Joseph were peasants. Priority was not even given to Mary, as a pregnant woman, in securing a comfortable room at the crowded inn. But, as she prophesied, "all generations" would call her "blessed". She was exalted in her blessedness; she was not exalted over any other woman, but being blessed elevates any one of us in our own lives. We are exalted over what we were before we accept Jesus into our hearts! We are exalted within our own lives when we accept God's will for us and carry out his plan for us. But life on this earth will never be perfect.  Mary also experienced great sorrow in watching her Son die the wretched death that was necessary for her, and every other human's, salvation.

  One of the lessons we can learn from Mary's life is that our ultimate fulfillment in our lives and as Christians, lies in totally giving our lives over to our Lord. We must fully look at the answer to this question: To whom does our life belong? 

*Psalm 22:9 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.(KJV) Sin is the opposite of holiness and sin is ugly.