“And he [Gabriel] came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!…Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.” – Luke 1:28, 30

AS WE FREQUENTLY refer to the cross of Christ throughout the year, besides Easter, we ought not to find it peculiar, or out of season, to often reflect upon Christ’s incarnation aside from Christmas; both events are inseparable, likewise with Christ’s death and resurrection.

The event of Christ coming into the world was the beginning of God fulfilling His promise. It is God providing the Lamb that was foreshadowed when He provided a sacrifice in place of Abraham’s son, Isaac (Genesis 22:13-14). Although Christ had not yet been offered as the perfect sin offering to take away the sin of the world, as Simeon held Him as infant Redeemer, he was content and ready to depart this life knowing that his eyes had seen salvation, a light to the Gentiles and Glory to Israel.

Pondering over the fact that Mary actually carried the Son of God in her womb is mind-blowing and yet, as Mary was the chosen and highly favoured one, she still experienced the pain of childbirth and probably all the difficulties of childbearing that many mothers speak of. No doubt, realizing the truth that she was carrying God incarnate made her troubles sweeter. She never made demands of God but remained His obedient and humble maid.

Surely many have wondered why Mary was not royally assisted or at least provided a five star luxurious inn to ease her delivery. Instead, much search was made for a room until eventually someone kindly offered a stable that was nowhere near as clean and polished as our romanticized Christmas cards portray; Mary, the highly favoured one, gave birth in the midst of filth and foul aromas. More so, our Prophet, Priest and King entered the world from the womb in humility rather than in royalty; what records do we have of any other royal family member being made subject to this? What depths were plunged naked by the King of kings to pull us out of the world’s mire and clothe us in His royal robes!

As professors of Christ, if we are set on an easy and comfortable ride, the will of God shall inconvenience us, interrupt us and spoil our plans. Indeed, God does have a great plan and a wonderful future for our lives, but do we really understand Jeremiah 29:11? The ultimate glory of Israel was not so much in repossessing their land and regaining their fortunes as in the future promise of the Messiah being their possession; this was the hope of their future – Prophet, Priest and King – they were to look forward to. All the physical aspects of Israel’s blessings were mere foreshadows of Who Christ is. How often we see and hear this scripture used out of context and from its ultimate perspective instead of realizing that we are redeemed to be His people and He our God; everything else is secondary to that.

Today’s concept of prosperity and peace is so far removed from God’s. The Christians temptation is to whine for ease and luxury, whereas we ought to strive to please God first and foremost; our first passion should be holiness rather than happiness; obedience regardless of the consequences. We may live seasons in poverty or governmental oppression but God is still making a way – His way – but not as we expect and not as we are wrongly taught by many respected pastors today. This is the glory – unseen by the eye of this world’s wisdom – that is working for us an exceedingly great and eternal resplendence not worthy to be compared with our present situation. When will we learn to let go of what should only concern God, in that He will take care of all our needs? God grant us a holy audacity against anxiety.

The Son of God did not become flesh to bring a life of ease, luxury and comfort; He came to replace Satan’s tyranny with His gentle yoke of ownership; He came to liberate us from sins slavery to live for Him; He came so that we would be conformed to His image and by whatever way and method He chooses for us.

Like Mary – the favoured one – if we are true followers of Christ, we don’t make demands on God, but rather – we are willing servants to gladly carry out His will.