mary paid the price...

mary not only desired to do GOD’s will but she decided to pay the price. mary decided to take a chance, to risk, to pay the cost.

luke 1.38 (lb), mary said, “i am the LORD's servant, and i am willing to do whatever HE wants.”

have you ever said that to GOD? "GOD, i'm willing to do whatever YOU want." whatever.

now what does whatever include? well, it includes everything! mary said, i'll do whatever HE wants. does that sound a little risky? yes it does. have you ever said that to GOD? it is being willing to pay the cost. can you imagine what it cost mary to say "yes". she could have said "no". she had a choice. can you imagine the cost she paid to be the mother of JESUS CHRIST.

first of all it cost her reputation. she was a virgin and she was pregnant and engaged to be married to joseph. now how are you going to explain that to everybody in the community? she gave up her reputation.

JESUS was thirty years old before HE started doing miracles to validate HE was who HE said HE was. can you imagine mary saying, "what will everybody think? i'm single and i'm pregnant and the baby's going to be GOD. right! what will my parents think? what will my friends think? what's my fiancé going to think?" if you were engaged and your fiancé said, "by the way i'm pregnant and you're not the father but it's GOD." are you going to buy that line? mary probably thought i'm going to lose the man i love over this." would you believe a story like that?

can you imagine what the neighbors were saying: "poor mary and joseph! it's so sad. and have you heard the far fetched excuse they're giving? they're saying GOD's the daddy. i think they've gone off the deep end!" they must have criticized and made fun of them.

in this matter of wanting to know GOD’s will there will be a time you must decide to do it. and there is always a risk involved.

just a thought from the front porch…