Read Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Meditate
I grew up in a part of Texas that seemed to love their “folk wisdom.” This was things like:
- “You are the bee’s knees” – you are doing something right.
- “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” – don’t count on something that may not happen.
- “A stitch in time saves nine” – a little work now saves a lot of work later.
But there was one saying that has stuck with me. It was often said about someone who couldn’t seem to commit to something.
“You can’t be a little bit pregnant.”
Either you are, or you are not. It’s binary. Either you are committed to this or you are not. When we walk with Christ, it can become easy to pass on some of the harder things. Prayer, scripture reading, spending time with God can all be bypassed in the “doing” of life. Giving, serving, loving, can all be given selectively to those we feel deserve to receive them.
We can dabble in following Christ. We can want to be a little bit pregnant.
Mary was “all in”. When she said, “Let it be to me according to your word”, there was no going back. All of the judgment that would come for a girl pregnant before marriage, all of the whispers, all of the social stigma paled in the face of the promise she was asked to carry.
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.” I am “all in”.
This holiday season, be all in. In the midst of the hustle, start your day by praying “I am your servant, God. Do what you want to do in my life.”
Pray
“Father, today I commit to being all in. I want to be all in to your plans and purposes for my life. I want to be used by you to birth a promise of your love. Interrupt my day so I can do what you want in my life. Amen.”
Contemplate
- Do you have a junk drawer? As a symbol of being “all in”, clean out and organize your junk drawer today. This is a physical sign for what you want God to do in your life.
- Commit this holiday season to do something you may know you need to do but have been putting off. If you have never read the Bible through, now is the time to start. Want a more consistent prayer time? Schedule it and commit to it. Needing to have a hard conversation with someone? Call them and go get coffee.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.