C.S. Lewis said “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature.” Mary, mother of Jesus, never met C. S. Lewis but the choices she made shows a teenager determined to keep her eyes fixed on pleasing God. We find in Luke CH 1 that after the angel tells her she will give birth to the Messiah, and after she visits her relative Elizabeth, causing infant John the Baptist to leap in his mother’s womb, Mary pours out her heart in praise to God for choosing her to fulfill such a key role in God’s salvation plan for the world. She bubbled up “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.” Mary found that by choosing to submit herself to God, she experienced fulfilment beyond description. All who today submit to God can have the same joy as Mary had.
Dr. Melvin E. Banks, Sr. is the founder and chairman of UMI (Urban Ministries, Inc.). Under his direction, UMI has grown to be a leading publisher of Christian education resources for churches in the African American community. Read More
