mary didn't let fear hold her back...

a good question i think as we view the birth of JESUS is why did GOD choose mary as JESUS’ earthly mother?

luke 1.26-27 (niv), GOD sent the angel gabriel to nazareth, a town in galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named joseph... the virgin's name was mary.

i don’t know about you but i think my reaction if an angel came to me would be the same as mary’s.

luke 1.28-30 (lb), confused and disturbed, mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 'don't be frightened, mary,' the angel told her, 'for GOD has decided to wonderfully bless you!'

now the greek word for confused and disturbed is petrified, scared to death. she had every reason to be frightened but she didn't let her fears control her. GOD said, "you're going to be the mother of JESUS CHRIST." i'm sure all kinds of fears came up and more questions.

• the fear of criticism – "what's everybody going to think? i'm a virgin and i'm having a baby."
• the fear of the supernatural – "what will happen to me?"
• the fear of inadequacy – "how can i handle this?"
• fear of change – "how will this change my life?"
  

many of you have these same four fears and they will keep you from being used by GOD. but they didn’t mary. she didn't let fear hold her back.

just a thought from the front porch...