Are you the Lord's servant?

Luke 1:38 (NLT)

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May everything You have said about me come true.” 

My favorite Christian author is Philip Yancey.  His latest book “What Good Is God” is a masterpiece, in my opinion.  Other highly recommended books--- “Prayer—Does It Make Any Difference?”, “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”, “The Bible Jesus Read”, “Disappointment With God”, and “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”.  These are all books that can be read over and over again. 

In one of his other books--- “The Jesus I Never Knew”-- Yancey points out that the society when and where Jesus was born resembled that of Russia in the 1930s under Stalin.  The regime of Herod the Great was one of strife and terror, with daily executions and slaughters that are never pointed out in Christmas cards. 

Mary was likely no more than a 13-year old Jewish girl when the Holy Spirit chose her to be the earthly mother of the Savior of the world.  Think about the scandal of today when a teenage girl becomes pregnant; imagine what it must have been like back then?  Yet, when the angel, Gabriel, told her that she was the “favored one” (Luke 1:28) and after she naturally asked how could this be (Luke 1:34), she responded with these words of acceptance.

Despite the potential danger and ridicule that Mary knew she might face, she said “yes” to the Lord’s request.  As Yancey pointed out, often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, yet Mary embraced both.  She was the first person recorded in the gospels who accepted Jesus on His own terms, regardless of personal cost. 

Note her affirmation, “I am the Lord’s servant”.  The Greek word she used was “doule” (“doo-lay”) meaning “female slave”.  Other translations use the word “bondservant”, a word the apostle Paul used to describe himself (38 times, e.g. Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1).  Also Peter, James and Jude used this term that has several meanings:

·  Does not expect to be served but to serve others and to serve without being paid back.

·  Does not expect to be treated better than their master

·  Understands her/his ultimate purpose in life 

Does this describe you?  Is the Lord calling you to serve Him?  Are you saying “yes” or “no”?  Pray about saying “yes” and, if you do say “yes”, you will find that everything God says will come true for you!