Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38 NASB1995)
Jesus always existed with God, and he was and is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So he didn’t just come into being when he was born as a baby to his mother Mary. For Jesus willingly left the throne in heaven which he had with God the Father, he came to the earth, and he was born to Mary, but conceived of the Holy Spirit. So he was not born with a sin nature as we are, and he never once sinned. But when he lived on the earth he was both fully God and fully human (God incarnate).
[John 1:1-36; John 8:24,58; John 10:30-33; John 20:28-29; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 1:1]
Now Mary was chosen of God to bear the only begotten Son of God, but this did not make her someone to be worshipped as though she is a god. But she was a young woman of tremendous faith in the Lord who believed what the angel told her, even though she didn’t understand, at first, how it was going to take place, since she was a virgin. And that took a lot of faith and courage to believe what the angel told her, too, especially since she would most certainly now be marked as an adulteress, for who would believe her story?
Now try to put yourself in her position, which will be harder for males, or try to imagine a situation where God might send an angel to you to call you to do something that you know will get you tagged as crazy, or as someone who cheated on your mate, and so you know people are going to think you have lost your mind or that you have sinned against God. And so you know they are not going to believe you, and that they are probably going to reject you, or that they might even put you to death for what they think you did.
For this isn’t just a “nice story” that gets repeated once a year, but this is a story of tremendous faith and trust in God and in his calling upon the life of a young woman who sets a great example for us who follow Jesus with our lives as to the kind of faith which we should have, too; a faith which believes in miracles and in divine intervention. And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And this should be our response to God when he calls us to do “the seemingly impossible.”
And some of us may be being faced with difficult situations in our lives which seem to not have answers, and the Lord may be leading us in directions we never thought possible, and so we know we will have to step out in faith, believing that God is in control, and then just trust him with the details. And Mary can serve as a wonderful example for us of that faith, where we rest in the Lord, and where we consider ourselves as servants of the Lord, and so we say with Mary, “May it be done to me according to your word.” Amen!
His Tender Mercies
An Original Work / January 26, 2014
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Fear not! I’m with you.
Be not dismayed!
God watches o’er you.
Trust Him today.
He’ll lead and guide you;
Give you His aid.
He’ll love and keep you
With Him always.
Walk in His footsteps.
He’ll lead the way.
Trust in His love;
Believe that He cares.
He will not leave you.
Faithful He’ll be.
His tender mercies
Now you will see.
Fellowship with Him
Throughout the day.
Tell Him your heartaches.
He’ll heal always.
Rest in His comfort.
He is your friend.
Your faith He’ll strengthen,
True to the end.
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“May it Be Done to Me”
An Original Work / December 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love