Most powerful words for a Christian
Statue of the Virgin Mary. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The first phrase comes from the Virgin Mary.
- She was answering the Angel Gabriel, who was sent by God to ask her if she was willing to be the mother of the Messiah.
- The second phrase comes from Satan: “I will not serve!”
- From the beginning, he rejected God’s plan for his existence. He didn’t want to be part of God’s kingdom.
“LET IT BE!”
Has it ever occurred to you that these are the most important words any human being has used to answer God? “Let it be!”
These three words are the opposite extreme of that other phrase, also from the Bible, where one of God’s creatures rebelled, saying: “I will not serve!” Is it just coincidence that these phrases were spoken by the two persons that God mentioned when he said: “I will put enmity between you and the woman”?
The first phrase comes from the Virgin Mary. She was answering the Angel Gabriel, who was sent by God to ask her if she was willing to be the mother of the Messiah. God had a specific plan for her — a plan for the salvation of the world that depended on her.
God wanted her to conceive a child while, at the same time, remaining virgin. The angel told her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.”
The first phrase is Mary’s answer to God: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” She was the perfect disciple not simply because she was mother of Jesus but because she was ready to do whatever God wanted. Jesus explains this when replying to a woman who praised Mary for being his mother.
LEAVES US FREE
The woman in the crowd said: “Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!” He replied, “More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” A reminder of what really counts: I am not a good disciple because I call myself Christian. I am a good disciple of Jesus only if I do what God wants me to do for him.
The point is that God always leaves us free. The Virgin Mary could have said she was too busy with her own career to be bothered with a plan that didn’t leave her time to do all the things she wanted to do. It’s not hard to imagine someone saying that sort of thing to God today. But she didn’t say, “I’m too busy!” Instead, she said, “Let it be!”
The second phrase comes from Satan: “I will not serve!” From the beginning, he rejected God’s plan for his existence. He didn’t want to be part of God’s kingdom. He wanted his own kingdom.
Amazing that God would summarise the existence of these two creatures — Mary and Satan — by saying to one: “I will make her your enemy.”
We understand better why the woman said, “All generation will call be blessed!” How wonderful our own lives are when we say yes to God’s plan instead of becoming obsessed with our own plans.
