Christmas Music Again – Mary Did You Know

Once again this week I’m delving into some of the great music of the Christmas season.  Many of these songs really hit home when you listen to the words, and today I have another one of those songs for you.  Please read the lyrics of this song and then I’ll discuss it further below:

Mary did you know that your baby boy would someday walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

Oh Mary did you know 

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will walk again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb 

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am.

-Composed By Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene

Just like with last week’s song “The Little Drummer Boy”, we have a song about someone who was willing to go along with God’s plan.  I don’t think anyone could tell me that Mary fully understood what she was getting herself into when she was told she was going to be a virgin mother.  She did know that the path she was going to go down wasn’t going to be easy.  She wasn’t married to Joseph, and yet she was pregnant.  The other people around her weren’t going to believe her as to, why she was pregnant, and yet she was willing anyway.

Mary is another great example for the world.  She didn’t know what God was getting her into, but she knew enough to trust His plan for her.  And without her willingness to go along with that plan all of our lives could have been different. 

How wonderful is it to be used by God?!  Well, if we keep coming up with reasons why we can’t or won’t do something for Him then we’ll never fully experience all the blessing that He has in store for us.  I pray that when you hear this song the rest of the Christmas season that you hear it a little differently and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be more open to allowing God to work in you and through you.

I Am...

I am a man.

I am a husband to a beautiful wife.

I am a father of 3 great kids.

I am the main provider for my family.

I am the spiritual leader of my household.

I am an elder at my church.

I am an office manager at my job.

The reason I bring this up is because of a song I heard during the Christmas season. I’m sure you probably heard it as well. The version of “Mary Did You Know” by Casting Crowns is a favorite of mine. I feel it to be extremely powerful the way that they emphasize certain parts of the song.

The one part of the song that really hit me this year is when they ask Mary if she had any idea that the child she was carrying would be known as the Great I Am. Those two words, I Am, are very powerful in so many ways. Think about the fact that Jesus was born into the world to be more than any of us could ever imagine ourselves to be. He came into the world to encompass it all, and eventually die on the cross for every one of us! And kids today think they have pressure!

Anyway, this got me to thinking more about who I am, and how it could even start to compare. I started to think about who I think I am versus who the world thinks I am. Is the “I am” that I think I am the same as the “I am" that the world sees me as? How do I come across to others, and where on the list above does everything rank on someone else’s list? Am I truly doing my job as a follower of Christ if other people in the world see me as something not on the list way before any of the things I’ve listed above?

These are the things that I’ve been thinking about for the last month. My question to you this week: What is your “I am”, and how does it compare to the “I am” that you show the world each and every day?