Then Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be unto me according to your word.”

— Luke 1:38

There are many things about Mary that I think we could well emulate. The first is her humility. She was a lowly “maidservant of the Lord,” as she described herself. The Scripture says, “In the sixth month [of the pregnancy of Elisabeth, her relative] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph … the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:26-28).

When Mary heard this, what did she say? Did she say, “Well at last I’m getting the recognition I deserve”? No; not at all. Rather, the Scripture says “She was troubled by his words, and considered in her mind what manner of salutation this might be” (v. 29) [you who are highly favored … Bless are you among women” (v. 28)]. She described herself as simply the maidservant of the Lord; she was of lowly estate, and could not possibly imagine what the angel intended by that saying.

God chose Mary as a humble servant through whom the world would be blessed, by her Son. We should imitate Mary, in the same way we should imitate Peter, Paul, or John.

Question to ponder:
If you were in Mary’s shoes, how do you think you would have reacted to the angel’s news of the virgin birth?