Many of us Baptists are afraid to talk about the wonderful character qualities that Mary possessed. As I have been anticipating Christmas - the celebration of God sending our Savior to earth, I have been pondering the personal faith and inner strength that Mary, the mother of Jesus possesed.
She must have had such unwavering faith to be used by God in such a way. Yet, she was just a young girl. God chose to use her at a time when her personal testimony would be ruined and her upcoming marriage could be compromised. Even with these obstacles, Mary trusted Him to work all things together for good. What faith! My prayer is that my faith would be strong enough to put me at the right place at the right time so that I can be tremendously used as a vessel for His glory.
Luke 1:46-56 quotes the beautiful words that Mary glorifies God with. In verse 48, she refers to herself as a "handmaiden of the Lord". I did a little research about handmaidens. A handmaiden followed her mistress everywhere and was present to be used for whatever her mistress asked. Not one word is spoken by the mistress to the handmaiden, just a look or a wave of the hand and a task was assigned. Thus the term "hand-maiden". A handmaiden knows that the best way to serve her mistress is to find out as much as she can about her personality. She desires to be so in tune with her mistress as if she can even read her thoughts and anticipate her next instruction.
Mary calls herself a "handmaiden of God". Shouldn't every one of us desire to be just that! As we move into 2011, let us get so close to God that we can anticipate His next request of us and may we serve Him with a heart of faith as Mary did!
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