Daring Joyنموونە

Mary, The Mother of Jesus: The Best Joy

The gifts God gives us in this life are meant to be celebrated. But we must know that they will never be sustaining. Even good things—things no one would fault us for desiring and enjoying—will deplete our joy if these gifts are standing awkwardly in the wrong position of our hearts. Said another way, what sits at the center of our affection will determine the satiation of our joy. As we enter the story of Mary, Jesus’s mother, we will see an invitation to choose Jesus as our greatest joy and move other joys in this life off center. But one of the beautiful things we’ll be reminded of is that Jesus deeply cares for our lesser joys too. He cares about all the contents of our hearts.

From the very beginning, the relationship between Jesus and His mother Mary was defined by kingdom mission. She conceived Jesus as a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit. She was chosen by God to carry the Son of God in her womb, to raise Him, love Him, and train Him in the ways of the Lord.

We aren’t given much of a view into Jesus’s toddler years or early childhood. But it’s important to remember that those did happen! And Mary would have played a traditional and significant role during those years.

From the time Jesus was young, Mary was confronted with the reality that while she was significant in His life, Jesus was first and foremost God’s Son—the Second Person of the Trinity who came in the flesh to be the world’s Savior. This dynamic is made clear in a scene early on in Jesus’s teaching ministry.

In Mark 3:31-35, the crowd attempted to make Jesus aware of His mother and brothers’ presence outside. One might expect Jesus to then seek out His family members and usher them inside. But instead, He redefined family relationships in terms of the kingdom of God and pointed those listening to a deeper loyalty.

Jesus chose the priorities of God’s kingdom over the priorities of the world, even though our earthly families are a gift included in God’s good design. It’s important to note that Jesus isn’t rejecting His family or deeming them unimportant or insignificant. Rather, He’s showing them what matters even more.

As Jesus’s mother, I can imagine this being painful for Mary to hear. Yet, this pain came with an invitation—an invitation to find more joy in being Jesus’s disciple than in any other role she played, including the honorable role of mother.

When we become followers of Christ, He invites us to reorganize what we love. I once heard an idol described as anything in which the outcome has the power to change our view—or our celebration—of Christ. What often keeps me from joy isn’t a lack of good gifts in my life but in expecting more joy from the gift than it was meant to give. My disappointments and discontentment come from the displacement of the gifts I have—very good things in my life that are sitting awkwardly in the wrong position of my heart.

The problem is rarely the gift itself. God delights in giving us His good gifts! The problem is an issue of placement. Our joy will only be satiating if the greatest joy—Jesus—is at the center of our affection.

One of my mentors once told me that he frequently finds himself confessing the sin of folly, which he defines as choosing the lesser joys in this life over the joy of Christ. I want to pause here and invite us to do the same.

Because this is a struggle for me, a prayer I often pray is, “Jesus, help me to want You more than I want anything else today.”

This has been a helpful prayer for me to pray in rhythm each morning, particularly when I’m in a season of waiting and longing or praying fervently for a particular outcome. This prayer helps me release my desires into God’s hands and helps me reorganize my heart with God’s help. Essentially, my prayer is, “Lord, help me make You my greatest joy!”

Remember: Jesus’s invitation to us in Mark 3 is a reorganization of what we love, not a rejection of the other gifts God has given us. God simply knows that we will experience the most joy when we are willing to release those gifts to Him.

Read Mark 3:31-35 and pray this prayer: Jesus, help me to want You more than I want anything else today.