Anyone who knows me knows I love The Chronicles of Narnia (children’s series) by C. S. Lewis. Mr. Beaver is one of my favorite characters and he delivers one of my favorite lines. The little girl, Susan, is very concerned about meeting Aslan. She thought he was a man but found out he was a lion (Aslan is actually a portrayal of Jesus in the story). She was nervous about meeting a lion and asked if he was safe.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
What a simple line but how true it is if we are going to follow Jesus. If we want a safe life, we will need to either be simply religious or leave God out of our lives altogether. To truly follow Jesus (not a set of religious rules), we will have to give up everything for Him. He made no bones about it and did not apologize.
In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Luke 14:33
Jesus’ way is not safe at all. It is frightening and He will make sure it is a life far above what we are able to manage or figure out. It is a life of following Him…moment by moment.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a perfect example of a life interrupted and complicated after a simple “yes.”
She was going about her ordinary daily life in a tiny town called Nazareth, when Gabriel came for a visit. He told her that she was not only highly favored, but that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God. She had a question because she knew a little bit about biology. She said, “How will this be since I am a virgin?”
Not a complicated question, but an unbelievable answer came. The Holy Spirit Himself would come upon her and cause her seed to be joined with God in such a way that a baby would be born who was both fully God and fully man.
We have manger scenes everywhere at Christmas so it sounds normal to us, but can we imagine being a young girl, engaged to be married and hearing that?
At the end of the conversation, Mary simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”
Greek definition of female servant (doule)
One who gives herself up wholly to another’s will; devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests.
Mary’s immediate response was who she was, a servant of the Lord. No wonder that humble young woman was highly favored and chosen to be Jesus’ mommy. She didn’t care about herself, she cared about her God.
To be found pregnant and unmarried would mean the engagement was over at best. At worst, she would be stoned to death according to the law. None of that was taken into account.
Therefore, I can hear heaven say, “Let the amazing journey begin!”
You see, when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we have invited the unseen world to invade our seen world. We are saying to God, I give up all control and I am putting myself totally in your hands to do as You will.
We never read of Mary trying to fix anything or fighting for herself.
When we say “yes” to God, everything from that point on is God’s problem, not ours. If we don’t believe God is good, we won’t live this way. If we want safety, we won’t live this way. If we want God, we will live the most amazing life of which we could ever dream.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine….
Ephesians 3:20a
Scripture doesn’t say she told Joseph, but we know he found out because he was going to put her away privately (in those days it would have been like a quiet divorce). He wanted to protect her.
Side note: God chose a man like Joseph to be Jesus’ daddy and I can see why. He was humble and kind. Joseph had every right to rage against her and use the law to have her killed. He did none of that; he had mercy. He cared more about Mary than his reputation. I have a feeling Jesus grew up in a pretty amazing home. God didn’t choose people with money to raise His Son. He chose two people who had what money can’t buy; godly character.
God went to Joseph in a dream and gave him instructions about Mary. What Mary could not do, God did for her.
She laid her life down for God and His Son. In return, God put a star in the sky that led wise men to them, announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds, and spoke to her husband time and again through dreams to protect them.
No wonder scripture says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
(Luke 2:19)
She was probably too overwhelmed to put her feelings into words.
Mary and Joseph didn’t have to have spies helping them keep Jesus alive. There was no technology or cellphones, yet God got His perfect will done, through them, according to scripture written both hundreds and thousands of years before. Let these examples build your faith.
- She would be a virgin.
- In Isaiah 7:14 it says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” That was written 700 years before Jesus was born.
- Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
- A census was taken and everyone had to go to their place of birth to be counted. Joseph was from Bethlehem. They traveled several days to get there from Nazareth and arrived just in time for his birth.
- Out of Egypt I called my Son.
- Warned through a dream, Joseph took Mary and fled to Egypt because Herod had all the babies two years old and under killed in Bethlehem. Prophesied by Jeremiah 600 years prior. Won’t He do it?!
They probably didn’t always feel safe, but they were the safest people on the planet. Why? Because all of heaven was fighting for them.
Our God is awesome. If we would only pray as Jesus told us, our lives would not be safe, but they would be earth shattering in their effectiveness and fruitfulness. Each of us has the potential to change our little corner of the world by bringing God’s Kingdom into it.
Because we are control freaks, we stop God from being able to touch everyone we come in contact with.
If we want our will to be done on earth, God will allow us to do that. If we want His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, watch out. God ’bout to start a fire through us!
Mary’s simple words to Gabriel are the reason she is one of the most revered women on the face of the planet. Her knee jerk reaction was, “I have no rights, I am the Lord’s servant. Whatever He wants is okay with me. Come hell or high water, God’s will be done.” (Terri’s translation).
Our will should be so given over to God that He can come to us at any moment and we would say “yes” all day long.
If we really knew Him and trusted Him, we would throw everything at His feet and say “take it all, my children, my family, my stuff, and me.”
Make no mistake, God’s will does not protect us from being devastated. As Mary and Joseph took God’s little Lamb into the temple, Simeon (a prophet) said something to Mary about her future.
“…And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Luke 2:35
One of the Greek definitions of sword is “piercing grief.” Mary said yes to the will of God, but it did not protect her from pain beyond our imagination.
The Christian life is not for the faint of heart. God cannot do anything but good to us because it’s who He is. However, our good and God’s good are often worlds apart. I have watched and experienced God do so much good in my life and the lives of people I love. I have sat and cried with them through the good God was doing in their souls. He pierces our souls to cut away our soul cancers.
He takes us to places we fear so we know He is the only One we are ever to fear. He often allows horrible circumstances, so He can navigate us through them. He wants us to know Him so well, we begin to laugh at the future with zero fear. That will not be done on a bed of roses, eating chocolate all day.
To grow up in Christ and have Him fully formed in us, takes many scary twists and turns. A safe life will usually get us a nice eulogy at our funeral. A life lived in total abandon will influence generations.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9
You can have safe, I’ll take Jesus!
