Why Mary?

 Jesus of Nazareth. ITC Entertainment. 1977

Mary is my role model.

I can't wait to meet Mary, the mother of Jesus. What an amazing girl, and I aspire to be just like her. Don't you know she was afraid? Can you imagine an angel visiting you and giving you the kind of news she got that day? The older I get, the more astounding I find the whole miraculous scenario. Her response? "Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word'" (Luke 1:38).

So Mary heard a supernatural foretelling of something that was to happen inside her own body--something that would certainly make her look like a sinner--yet she loved her God enough to trust and believe and serve and submit. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have taken on that attitude, but I want to be like Mary.

And then there was Mary Magdalene. A sinner forgiven, she had a truly faithful heart. She accepted His grace. She followed Him. She ministered to Him. She stayed through His torture, His death, His burial...and she was there just after His resurrection, brokenhearted to think that the body of her Saviour had been stolen. Jesus was Mary's Everything. He was her Center. I picture her constantly at His feet, seeking His mind and His heart, wanting more of Him always.


Oh, Lord, may I be a Mary Magdalene. Help me to love you more. Help me to know you as the one and only Love of My Life. Heaven knows I can't depend on me because my flesh fails me every day. My family and friends will fail me, too, because they are human. But Your love never, ever has failed me, and I know it never will. I want to know You more deeply. Just as Mary so lovingly anointed You at Bethany, I desperately want to love You that extravagantly, for Your love for me has certainly been extravagant. Thank You for the way You love so sacrificially. May I learn to love with Your love. Please help me as I run to You, as I seek You every day.


Lord, make me a Mary.