IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME! That means an innumerable amountof things. It can mean something different to everyone. To some, it’s the parties. To others, the decorations. To most, it’s the gifts. Although, there are some, like my husband, who really couldn’tcare less about gifts. I can’t relate.
There are meaningful gifts, memorable gifts, “dirty santa” gifts, obligatory gifts, tradition gifts (my BIL loves to buy goofy footed PJ’s for my girls every yr), monetary gifts, edible gifts (now those, my husband loves) and yes even thoughtless gifts. It’s a season of GIFTS!
We often think of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, being the beginning of gift giving. He was after all the greatest gift ever given to mankind. God Almighty Himself putting on flesh and coming to earth. The Creator revealing Himself by becoming one of us for the ultimate purpose of sacrificing His life FOR US! He didn’t send anyone in His place while He watched from His Throne in Heaven. He left HEAVEN to come to this sinful world because we needed HIM!
However, I see the gift giving beginning before the Nativity.
What if Mary had not GIVEN herself. What if she had not given her present and her future. What if she had let the fear and the what if’s, the opinions of others, the doubt, the undeserved shame, the rejection and more hold her back from giving? What would the Christmas story be like without Mary’s gift?
I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to not dwell on stories in the Bible and so I miss most of the unspoken humanity details. There’s got to be more to Mary’s story than this moment with Gabriel in Luke chapter 1.
We aren’t born as people who spontaneously give. In Fact, we are born as takers. The first years of our lives are full of people serving us and giving to us.
Somewhere in Mary’s young life someone had instilled in her the Promises of the coming Messiah. She had to have memorized those prophecies and held them dear to her heart. She had a heart that longed for the Messiah and had gotten to a place of such hunger and desperation for Him that she was willing to GIVE herself completely, no matter the cost. She did count the cost.
Luke 1:29 tells us, “But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what he said and kept revolving in her mind what such a greeting might mean.” AMPC
After considering the cost, we find her expression of GIVING in verse 38.
Luke 1:38 “Then Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said. And the angel left her.”
THIS WAS THE FIRST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER GIVEN
Mary showed us how and what to give to Jesus. Ourselves, our YES, our lives, our past, our present, our future.
The only way we can do it is to follow her example of hearing the PROMISE, believing the PROMISE, cherishing the PROMISE and wanting our Messiah more than anything in this world. Talking to Him daily and throughout our day, consuming His Word, and always keeping our spiritual eyes and ears open to see and hear Him. Only then, we will be ready when Heappears to us and we will be able to say, “let it be done to me according to what you have said.”
So, this Christmas, Mary has challenged me to GIVE more of myself to Jesus. I’m aware of some areas in my life where I can give more. Its not always going to be easy, and I will be stretched, but if it means the Savior of the word will be revealed to me and others then with JOY I say, “let it be done to me according to what you have said.”
You are anointed, chosen, and cherished!
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