Be Like Mary This Christmas

This Christmas I challenge you to be like Mary. During this season, we mostly focus on the baby in the manger and overlook the significance of Mary as God’s choice for Jesus’ mother. The angel Gabriel identifies the characteristic that put Mary at the top of the list. “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God…” (Luke 1:30). There it is. To be like Mary, we have to find favor with God. So, what is the formula for finding God’s favor. We can look to a beautiful and mysterious passage in Isaiah to discover the answer. 

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’

“At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’”

“And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:1-8)

How to gain God’s Favor

A lot of people try to make the answer for gaining the favor of God complicated. But, I have read the stories all of God’s favorites in the scriptures, and I have known many great servants of God. The one thing they all have in common is that they said, “Here am I. Send me!” When God gave them an assignment, they said, “Yes.” They may have resisted at first, like Gideon. In Judges 6, we learn that God called Gideon to deliver the Israelites out of the hands of the Midianites. I love Gideon’s reply, “Pardon me, my lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15). Wow!

However, after much delay, Gideon agreed and said, “Yes.” Amazingly, he recruited an army of 32,000 men. However, God’s reply to Gideon is not what he expected, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands… They will say, ‘We did it of our own strength.’” You see God doesn’t care about our weaknesses. If you don’t have weakness, he won’t be able to properly display his power. Yes, Mary had weaknesses, she was just a girl, but a willing vessel. To be like Mary this Christmas, we must say, “Yes.” How often has God asked us to do something and we have offered excuses. Someone puts out a plea saying we need help at church and you say, “I can’t do that; I’m busy.”

God Uses Our Weaknesses

In the story of Gideon, God kept whittling down Gideon’s arm until he had 300 men, against the entire army of Midianites. God instructed Gideon and his small army to surround the Midianite camp at night and, at a signal, they smashed jars, blew trumpets, and yelled. Yes, yelled… which caused the Midianites to run, crying out as they fled. God used 300 men to route a great army of 135,000. All because Gideon said, “Yes.”

To be like Mary this Christmas, you must desire to please God. This desire will cause you to say, “Yes.” If this desire is not in your heart, ask God to align your desires with his. Then, you will want to do what pleases God. It is that simple. This Christmas make your answer, “Here I am. Send me.”

See The Majesty Of God At Christmas the miracle of the virgin birth of Jesus.

Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear