Be It unto Me According to Your Word

(Luke 1:38 NKJV) Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

You’ve got to love Mary’s youthful, faith-filled heart … so humble, so submissive to God, and so willing to be shaped by his word to her. Truly, she is a wonderful example of how faith responds with humility when God speaks to us, calls us, or gives us an assignment.

Mary foreshadowed some very important Christian doctrine in her response to God’s word—the word that declared his promise and assignment for her. To understand this doctrine, we begin by looking at what Jesus said of those who want to follow him:

(Luke 9:23 NKJV) Then He (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

This is the response Jesus expects from those who receive him—the living Word of God—and who put their complete trust in him. That is, those who trust him enough to want to follow him and what he says to them. He spells out what this will take; self-denial and a daily carrying of the cross—the mechanism of dying to self and yielding to the will of another. Jesus lived this way himself as our supreme example:

(Luke 22:42 NKJV) “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

The “cup” Jesus was speaking of here, was literally taking up the cross on which his own freedoms and rights were crucified in deference to following God’s assigned path for him. What about the apostle Paul? Does his life and doctrine bear witness to this same humility and yielding to God’s word and assignment for him?

(Galatians 2:20 NKJV) “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

(1 Corinthians 15:31 KJV) “… I die daily.”

This was what Paul wrote about his life of surrender to Jesus. His foundational doctrine that is behind this testimony is found here:

(2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NKJV) For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; (15) and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

We note that it was Paul’s love for Jesus, and Jesus’s love pouring through him, that graced him to no longer live for himself but to live for Jesus. The next verse is what Paul says to you:

(Colossians 3:3 NKJV) “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The following verse shows how Paul began on his assigned journey of following the living word. (Acts is where we look to discover if he really did practice what he preached):

(Acts 9:6 NKJV) So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

When the apostle Paul first met Jesus, he instantly offered implicit obedience to him as his Lord: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Many years later, Paul—looking back over his life since this first encounter with Jesus—said:

(Acts 26:19 NKJV) “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

If Paul was “not disobedient,” this means that he lived a life of obedience to his Lord Jesus. Moreover, the following is how the apostle Paul introduced himself to others:

(Romans 1:1 NLT) This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.

Paul lived his entire ministry life in submission to the word Jesus spoke to him on his way to Damascus. Mary’s heart had the same quality of yieldedness and humility. Her response to the Angel’s word and God’s challenging assignment for her was: “Let it be to me according to your word.” This fits with her being a maidservant; she obeyed and submitted herself to God’s will. It changed everything in the plans she had for her own life, but it proved to be an incalculable blessing—not only for her and Joseph, but for the whole of humankind, eternally.

Then, after 30 years of obediently walking in God’s assignment for her; in relation to Jesus, Mary wisely advised others:

(John 2:5 NKJV) His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Note: Mary addressed this profound doctrinal statement—the summary of her life’s learning about God and his assignment for her—to servants. Anyone can be a servant. It applied to those willing to serve on that day—and they received a notable miracle as a result. And it will apply to you, if you will take on the humble servant’s attitude today: “Whatever he says to you, do it!”

Even a Roman centurion understood how Jesus’s ministry and blessings work. To Jesus he said: “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Mat. 8:8 kjv).

What is God saying to you today? What’s his assignment for you—your destiny wrapped up in a simple command, word, promise, or directive? In response, I encourage you to say with Mary, Jesus, and Paul: “Behold, I’m God’s servant; not my will but yours be done. It’s no longer I who lives, but God’s anointed living Word lives through me. Be it unto me according to your word.”