Altar Call –
Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
December 24,
2017
God uses ordinary
people in unexpected ways
God is known for doing the unexpected.
Choosing Mary to be the mother of God is one example. Mary was nobody, poor and
young, probably no more than 13 to 15 years old. She lived in a village known
only to prophets. Yet God plucked her out of nowhere for a special assignment.
Mary’s pregnancy was odd. An angel
announced it to her. Not just any angel. The big one, Gabriel, explains to Mary
that the Holy Spirit, not a man, would be responsible for her pregnancy.
Gabriel tells Mary her son will be no
ordinary baby. He will be “the holy one,” and called “the Son of God.” Most
young girls would have said, “Are you kidding?” But, according to Luke, she
made no such reply. But I imagine it was the doubtful look on her face that
caused Gabriel to quietly explain that “nothing is impossible with God.”
Mary’s response is remarkable. She says
to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Little
wonder that Mary’s humble surrender to God became such a powerful example to
believers in every age.
Did her commitment waver? I cannot help
but wonder. She remained in poverty. Her status did not change because had been
chosen to become the mother of God.
Shunning kings and castles, God arranges
for his son to be born in a barn. I cannot help but wonder if Mary said to
Joseph, “Is this what it means to be favored by God?” But Luke insists that did
not happen. Instead Luke sums up Mary’s attitude in a song, called the Magnificat, with Mary saying, “My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Herein is Mary’s awesome example.
We are not likely to express our commitment
to God with such exalted words as those used by Mary in most translations of
the Bible. So I love the way a modern translator like Eugene Peterson in The Message interprets Mary’s song:
I’m bursting with
God-news;
I’m dancing the song of
my Savior God.
God took one look at me,
and look what happened –
I’m the most fortunate
woman on earth!
What God has done for me
will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name
is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave
after wave
on those who are in awe
before him.
He bared his arm and
showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing
braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off
their high horses,
pulled victims out of
the mud.
The starving poor sat
down to a banquet;
the callous rich were
left out in the cold.
How is Mary’s example helpful? It
reminds us that God uses ordinary people in unexpected ways. He invites us to
serve him in the trenches, in the common affairs of daily life. He seldom calls
us to do “great” things but to do simple things with great love – take soup to
a sick friend, visit a lonely person in a nursing home, encourage a struggling
friend, provide food and clothes for the poor or visit someone behind bars.
God uses our ordinary lives to
accomplish his will today – when we are willing to say what Mary said, “Lord, I
am your servant.” He may not send Gabriel to talk to you but he will use you as
he did Mary – in unexpected ways. + + +