Woman of Faith (Mary)

 

My dear all readers, this the sixth post of “Woman of Faith” and it will be the last post of the series which talk about woman figures in the bible. For the last woman figure this evening I chose Mary.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38)

Obedience and faithfulness! This is the first things that I got from figure of Mary. When the angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”(verse28-33), the privilege that she received gives her so many difficulties.

For Mary, this is not an easy thing. Let’s we imagine it. An unmarried woman suddenly had to conceive a baby. For Jesus’ sake, Mary would face the gossip, insults, and very likely have been rejected by his fiancé. Moreover she will bear shame in her community. Not only that, she would have to travel to Bethlehem to be taxed, she would have to flee to Egypt and later, finally she would see her own son tortured to death.

But look at how Mary deals with all that things. She did not refuse it, bargaining, or argued. Mary remains obedient to the God’s command. Even firmly and full adherence she said: “I am the Lord’s servant, May your word to me be fulfilled.”  I think it is no wonder why God chose Mary to conceive His Child. This is a grace from God. I am not sure there is another figure like Mary who has such extraordinary obedience like her. Even today I think would be very difficult to find a woman who has great obedience like Mary. Jesus himself greatly appreciates Mary.  Although Jesus was not the son of Mary and Joseph’s marriage, but let’s we take a look at how Jesus honored Mary. When Jesus was crucified, He still had time to say: “Woman, here is your son,” (John 19:26).

What can we glean from Mary’s story? Once again, obedience and faithfulness! Mary’s obedience and loyalty should be our inspiration in everyday life. I know it is not so easy.   Be obedient and faithful especially when we are in a difficult situation is not easily. But if we always submit our lives into the hands of the God’s provision, then God will help us get out of any trouble as written in Deuteronomy 31:8: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Let’s we hold Mary’s utterance: “I am the Lord’s servant” Yes! We are the Lord’s servant like Mary. As a servant we should to obey and have loyalty to our Lord. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey… “(Romans 6:16) “May your word to me be fulfilled.” This is evidence of Mary’s submission to God. We should to submit our entire life to the God’s will and wholeheartedly trust in Him. Do not make refusal, bargaining, or even argued with God’s plan and will.

My dear lovely readers, For Jesus’ sake, Mary have experienced a very difficult situation. But she still Obedient and faithful to God’s word and submit her life into the God’s will. As a Lord’s servant she knows what the best for her life. Mary’s obedience and faithfulness should be an example. How about us? By figure of Mary, let us renew our faith and obedience to God. Have loyalty to the Lord, which would not easily shaken by the wind in a storm even though we are in very hard and difficult situation.

“Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” (Isaiah 32:2)

Note: I would like to thank to all the readers for your comments and suggestions on the series “Woman of Faith” I really appreciate it and every single comment and suggestion will be my valuable lesson. I knew and realized that this is an imperfect writing and I still learn on it. Let God perfected all my writing, could be useful and be a blessing to all of us. Thank you to my dear lovely friend Ar Vhee who willing to made an art work for this series. Thank you to my inspiration blog friend and sister in Christ: Sue Nash, Julie Garro, my brother in Christ Rob Barkman, my Grandma Toni and many others blog friends. Thank you for your supporting. I love you all.

Karina

Photo Art work by: Ar Vhee http://metarvheenoia.wordpress.com/