Mary – God’s Plans Take Precedence Over Ours

Today, we continue our look at the Christmas story and more specifically the person of Mary. One remarkable thing about Mary was her willingness to put aside what she wanted out of life and to do exactly what God wanted. We find in Luke 1:27 that being the mother to the Savior wasn't originally in Mary’s plans. But God’s plans took precedence over hers.

Verse 27 - To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

Many of us have been reading the Christmas story from our earliest memories. We have seen the movies, we have nativities in our homes, and we’ve done Christmas plays in our churches decked out in our parent’s robes and towels. The Christmas story has been so ingrained in our life that it’s just how it should be. Of course the angels came, of course Joseph understood, of course they had a baby in the stable because there was no room in the inn. However, if we put ourselves in Mary’s place, we quickly see Mary was not planning on getting pregnant out of wed-lock, Mary was not planning giving birth in a stable, and Mary was not planning being the mother of God. Yet God’s plans come first over what we want. And it’s obvious because when we find Mary, she has a number of plans of her own.

Mary was getting ready to get married. She probably had plans of moving into her own home, plans of becoming Mrs. Joseph Carpenter. Although her plans may have included being a mom, I’m sure she was planning on mothering her husband’s children.

Mary was a young women with all her own plans, but when Gabriel showed up, they all changed. When God called her, Mary was willing to drop what she wanted and do what God wanted.

This is something we see throughout Scripture. When the Lord called, Abraham probably had plans. But when God called him to pack up and go, he went. Peter may have been spending his money in his head after such a great fishing trip, but when he was called, he dropped his nets, left his fish, and followed Jesus.

Everyone has plans. When I was a kid, I planned on being really rich. I told people I wanted a big fence to keep out poor relatives. By the time I hit college, I knew I would be both rich and famous. I would hit it big in radio or television. But God had other plans. We could probably all look at our lives and think of the plans we have. But when God comes calling, we need to make sure His plans and ultimately His will comes before our own.