What You Believe

Ready! Able! Willing! Of these three, which is the hardest? To be ready, we plan and prepare; to be able, we make sure we have sufficient power and resources to accomplish the task before us; to be willing, however, goes beyond the ready-and-able - it is the voluntary, inclination to move forward in our readiness and ability. Yeah, this is where many of us get stuck! We really know very little about Mary, she who was chosen to give physical birth to Jesus. Something we do know and learn from is ... willingness. When the angel described the divine conception [by The Holy Spirit] and the Holy Child she would bear, she said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38). No "but what about ..." or "are you sure ..." or "I'm not sure ...". Because God chose Mary, we can conclude she was physically-emotionally-spiritually ready and able and ... willing. Willing to suffer the scandal to ensue, the inability to adequately explain, the shame brought to her, Joseph and their families. Yes, Scripture makes clear ... she was completely willing! God has given Believers [reportedly] 8,810 promises in His Word; if I memorized every one and could recite them standing on my head while wiggling my toes, they would be moot and of no practical importance UNLESS I truly believed them. You see, our willingness [to believe and act] validates and establishes the soundness of what we say. Mary truly believed the words spoken to her by the angel. Can you - Will you respond as Mary ... willing to be the "servant of the Lord." It's really a matter of what you believe.