Vulnerability With Christ: A New Year Resolution

In my last blog post I reflected on Mary’s resounding “yes” and unhesitating surrender to God in the first chapter of Luke. Today, I would like to reflect on this same scripture, Luke 1:26-36, but with a change of focus. Instead of concentrating on Mary’s “yes,” I would like to consider her preceding reactions of fear and confusion.

Prior to Mary’s “Fiat,” scripture tells us that Mary expressed fear upon Gabriel’s greeting:

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:29-30).

Additionally, Mary communicates her confusion saying, “How can the be, since I have no husband?” (Luke 1:34).

By surrendering and voicing her genuine fear and confusion to God, Mary teaches us that it is okay to be afraid and that it is okay to not understand God’s plans. She teaches us that when we go to God with our fear, confusion, or whatever emotion we are feeling, He will be glad to answer us, just as He was glad to answer Mary’s fear and confusion through the angel Gabriel.

For me personally, Mary’s reaction is a relief. I am often overwhelmed by my desire to be reverent and faithful. In this desire, I often forget that reverence and faithfulness do not mean blind obedience and ingenuine emotions. As the angel Gabriel and Mary demonstrate through this scripture, God wants us to seek, understand, and know him. How can we do that if we do not go to him with our fears, confusion, and questions? He cannot answer us if we do not question.

While I do not expect myself to be able to let go of my fear and confusion over God’s plans for me as quickly as Mary did, I hope and strive to be able to do so one day. I also hope that by going to God with all my emotions and by surrendering myself and my emotions to God in this New Year, I may be able to enter a deeper more intimate relationship with Him. The key to relationships is vulnerability. In this New Year of 2021, I invite you to resolve with me to have more vulnerability with Christ. Let us go to Him with all our fear and confusion from 2020 so that we may begin 2021 with confidence and clarity in God’s will for us through these hard times.