She Said Yes!

She said yes!

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has always had a special place in my heart. I have always marveled at her willingness to carry our Savior when it could have cost her life.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38

If I were Mary, would I have said yes? Have you ever wondered how you would respond? Well I have good news for all of us.

We said yes!

Let me explain.  Mary was a vessel who was willing to carry the Lord Jesus.  Isn’t that a picture of us?  I love how the Bible has so many layers.  I never saw this before in these verses.  Mary was a foreshadow of us.  When we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as our Lord and Savior, we become a vessel willing to carry Jesus just like Mary!  The Word tells us that He is in us and we are in Him (see John 14:20).

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7

We are all willing vessels (clay jars) holding the great treasure that is Jesus.

So in the Scripture from Luke above put yourself in Mary’s place and imagine that the angel Gabriel is speaking directly to you:

28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman [or man]! The Lord is with you!”

30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary [insert your name here],” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!

Luke 1:28, 30 (emphasis mine)

For me this would read, “Don’t be afraid, Eva, for you have found favor with God!”  Speak this out loud right now with your name. It’s powerful!

This is the truth we need to settle in our hearts.

It’s vitally important that we know and understand that we are special in God’s eyes. We need to see ourselves as He sees us. And He sees us as highly favored.  It’s when we begin to understand how He sees us that we begin to receive the freedom that Jesus explains to His followers (see John 8:32).  We are the Father’s children in every sense of the word. We are no longer illegitimate children because we are now rightful heirs with Jesus.

Let’s take this to another level now.  Not only see yourself as Mary but look at others the same way. We need to stop looking at the fragile jar and begin looking at the great treasure within the jar.  You see, we are all merely broken jars.  If that’s all we are seeing when we look at another person, we are cheating ourselves out of so much.

Let’s do as God does and look at hearts and not flesh!

A note about comments:

I hope this word resonates in your heart as it does in mine. I’d love to hear from you. Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think about this word. If it changes your view on how you see yourself, I’d love to know.  Thanks for the comments and thanks for sharing this site with others.  We should all have the goal of sharing Jesus with others.  Let’s share today.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva