During this time of year, my mind is always drawn to whom I believe to be the most famous mother in the Bible and whom is most highlighted around Christmas after Jesus: Mary, His mother. While many false religions attempt to deify Mary, I realized as I was studying her life that she is not so different from us in many respects. We can learn from many of the traits of Mary and can implement these characteristics in our lives to help us to be successful ladies for the Lord.
She was favored.
Luke 1:28 says, And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed are thou among women.
No doubt, Mary knew of the promise that the Messiah would one day come. She had possibly read or heard the Old Testament prophecies that the Christ-child would be born of a virgin. I cannot even imagine how she felt when she received the news from Gabriel that SHE was the one God had favored to carry the Christ-child. God is not a respecter of persons, the Bible says. Even for those ladies who are not wives or mothers yet, God has chosen each lady to carry out a certain purpose for Him. For those He has favored to be mothers: out of all the ladies in the world, He has chosen you to be your child’s mother. With that favor comes a great responsibility.
She was fearful.
Luke 1:29-30 says, And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Obviously, Mary had a fear of the unknown like most first-time mothers do. She not only was startled by the angel appearing out of nowhere but also was fearful of what the actual message was. She must have had a multitude of random thoughts going through her mind: “What will my parents think?” “How am I going to tell Joseph?” “How will my friends react?” It is perfectly natural to have a fear of the unknown; but when fearful, we must put our faith in the Lord and trust Him. We all have been put in positions that have made us fearful, but it is then that we must put our trust in God and realize He has everything under control.
She was full of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:34-35 says, Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Mary understood that it had to be a miracle of God in order for her to conceive of the Holy Ghost. Although she did not fully comprehend it, she accepted it by faith. We all must understand that we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit’s help and leading in our lives. There have been situations in my life, especially as a mother, when I could not find the answer in a parenting book. I had to rely on the Lord and ask for the Holy Spirit to help guide me through that particular situation.
She was faithful.
Luke 1:38 says, And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
I could have begun with the truth that if she had not been faithful, she would not have been the one God chose. However, I want to point out that she continued being faithful after this announcement and throughout the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus. She was faithful to Him, not only as her Son but also as her Saviour. We can recall the time in the Bible when Mary tried to use her relationship with Jesus to gain attention from the crowd (Mark 3:31-35). At the marriage of Cana, she asked the Lord for a favor when the people ran out of wine (John 2). Now, I do not think she was being sinful in these instances; she just realized the potential of the Lord. However, Jesus reminded her, …mine hour is not yet come… It was not time for Him to reveal Himself as the Messiah. Mary responded in faith and said, …Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. We know the rest of the story: Jesus did perform His first miracle that day.
Here are a few applications from Mary’s life:
Like Mary, we have a great responsibility. Just as it was Mary’s responsibility to rear the Lord Jesus, it is our responsibility to rear the ones whom God has entrusted to us …in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)
Like Mary, we must remain humble in order to accomplish our responsibility. We can be sure Mary grew weary of washing His clothes, cooking His meals, and doing all the “mundane” tasks required of a wife and mother. We can become weary of the daily tasks as well. However, we must stay humble and take our responsibility seriously because it was given to us by God Himself.
Like Mary, we must be willing to make sacrifices in order to carry out our responsibility. As already mentioned, Mary did not understand all that the Lord was going to accomplish, but she did realize her Son’s purpose was to die on the Cross in order to save the world from their sins. It took sacrifice to take a step back and watch her Son be mocked, scourged, and ridiculed. She had to be willing to sacrifice her Son so that the whole world could be saved. We can learn from this that it should be our goal to raise our children for the Lord, not for us. We are rearing our children to become someone’s spouse, pastor, pastor’s wife, teacher, or youth director one day. We must be willing to invest in our children so they will have the opportunity to invest in another life in the future.
Like Mary, we must carry out our responsibility by faith. Luke 2:19 is one of my favorite verses. It says, But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Mary did not have a cell phone to use to document her Son’s every move or social media to remind her of past memories. Instead, she pondered these things in her heart. That night in Bethlehem, as she was watching the fulfillment of a prophecy unfold before her very eyes, I believe she pondered all these things in her heart. When she got discouraged with her day-to-day tasks as a wife and mother, she would recall that night when her Saviour was born and carry on by faith.
As already mentioned, God is not a respecter of persons. Let us learn from the life of Mary how we all are to fulfill the specific purpose God has given to each of us.
by Erin Montgomery
