Growing seeds

This week I have been re-reading the Christmas story and I tried to look at it through new eyes, as we can take it for granted. I woke up this morning with some thought's that I believe God put on my heart.
I shared this at church this morning,  and I want to share here with you too.

Luke 1:26-38 (KJV) And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

The first thing I want to point out is that it’s ok to ask questions but it’s how/why we’re asking. Earlier in chapter on Zacharias is told by the Angel that he and Elizabeth will have a son and he asks. “How is that possible because we’re both old?”

Then we see in the part of the story, Mary says something similar “How can this be as I haven’t been with a man”  Zacharias is struck dumb, while Mary is not. Why?  

I suspect that there was doubt in Zacharias mind and heart.  How could this possibly happen at this time in their lives.  Whereas Mary’s was a practical question. 

We sometimes need to ask questions, to look for additional info from the Lord, but we need to take God at his Word first.  Think what could have been avoided if Abraham had asked God for more details on where his son would come from.  He could have avoided an Ishmael!

It says that Mary accepted the word of the Lord, saying:

BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO THY WORD

This is powerful for us today too. The word is the seed – we know that from the parable of the sower. 

The WORD of GOD had been spoken literally for hundreds of years.  Every prophetic declaration was the seed that was going to be conceived.  Mary was a good Jewish girl.  Do you think she hadn’t heard those words?  It wasn’t just a one-time deal.  Just as we have the written word now, she had the Torah, the Old Testament, the words of the prophets. She would have heard the words of Isaiah; she would have heard Moses' account of Genesis.  They were all seeds. 

This is how God still works today in us.  He speaks his word into our hearts.  We have to decide if we will take him at his word.  

There was certainly a risk and cost involved for Mary.  She could have been publicly humiliated and outcast and ostracised at the very least, or worse, stoned to death, but yet, she praises God!  She worships!  

James 1:2 tells us to 'count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations'.  That word 'temptations' means more than just sins that tempt us, but it means adversities, experiences of evil, and things that put to proof our faith.

How often do we go straight to praising God when challenges come to put our faith to the test? And yet, that’s what Mary did.

Let’s go back to thinking about the seed for a moment...

Jesus tells us in Mark 4, the parable of the sower.  He says the word is sown, and then for some it never goes anywhere, for some it starts growing but has no depth and for others it gets choked out over time, and the some yields fruit.  We want be fruitful, don't we? 

As we go into the new year, I ask you what is the seed in your heart?  What words are you allowing to grow in your life, to come to fruition.   Just like a pregnancy, you grow things in your heart.  Just as in real life a woman can produce an egg, but if no seed comes, then the egg, just passes out of the body.  The same is true of the spiritual seed God gives us.  The bible says in Hebrews that the 'word profited them nothing, not being mixed with faith'.   The seed comes, we take it and mix it with faith. 

Just like in the natural world, a pregnancy can be aborted.  We need to make sure we don't abort the word the Lord has given to us through doubt , unbelief, fear or suchlike. 

New year is a great time to think about the 'seed' God has given you.  The days get so full don’t they? But as we come to the end of another year, it’s a good time to take a pause and meditate on the seed, the promises God has given you.  What are you going to give birth to this year. Luke says in verse 37 "...nothing is impossible with God." I like the way the passion versions puts that verse it says“Not one promise from God is empty of power, for nothing is impossible with God!”

Mary does just that.  She takes herself away from the every day stuff and we know the story goes on. Mary stays with Elizabeth for 3 months then goes home.  I think in that time she is staying away from those who will scoff, or try and convince her that she’s a loony.  Sometimes, we need to get by ourselves with God, we maybe, we just need to keep it in our hearts while we are ‘growing’ that seed.  Then there will be a time, where we can’t keep it to ourselves any more.  It starts showing.

We know that Mary and Joseph end up in Bethlehem and Jesus is born, but the last thing I want to mention today is about Simeon.  When they get to the temple, a man called Simeon prophesied over the family. In Luke 2:35 (KJV) he tells Mary:

Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Can you imagine how that must have broken Mary's heart.  The way it must have felt to a mother, a new infant baby in her arms.
Mary could have said "Forget it, I'm off,  I can’t do this".  

There were lots of things prophesied about the Messiah that can not have been easy to hear or bear, but alongside all of the prophecies, there was always hope. 

Today we live in a world where we can see the things of the end times coming closer at an alarming speed, and the word tells us some of what we will see as the last dates play out, BUT there is always, always  hope. Despite the darkness around us, Jesus was and always will be, the Light of the World.  

So my challenge to you this weekend, as the year is coming to a close, consider what seed he has given you and how you are nurturing that -whether that’s a personal word, or promises to believers as a whole-  and then find hope in the promises, despite the challenges we may face.   

We can learn a lot from Mary, not to venerate her as something more than she was, but as a beautiful example to us this Christmas, learning to really give ourselves to the Saviour who walked among us. 

Blessings 

Abi