"Do Not Disturb!"
- Dec 5, 2025
- 5 min read
Tim Keller once said, “A Christian is, literally, 'Christ’s one,' someone who is not just vaguely influenced by Christian teaching, but who has switched his or her most fundamental allegiance to Jesus. Christians understand the all-or-nothing choice that is forced upon us by the magnitude of Jesus’s claims.”
We need to realise like Mary, that our story is a part of God’s story, which means life has purpose and meaning. What a thought as we begin our journey towards Christmas, to think of new steps, new hopes and plans, as we gain a fresh understanding of Jesus and what He longs to do in and through our lives when facing ‘the all-or-nothing choice!’
Before you were even born, God had a plan for your life. He wrote out the exact purpose for your life. To know it, we must know HIM!
Psalm 139:16 – "Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."
Rich Mullins wrote these lyrics, "Jesus, write me into Your story, whisper it to me, and let me know I'm Yours."
It’s saying to God, “I’m prepared to go on a journey of renewal and transformation.” It’s saying ‘YES’ to Him. Or as the quote at the start of the blog said, we switch our ‘most fundamental allegiance to Jesus.’
Even as a teenager, Mary had learned to forget the world’s most common prayer, “Thy will be changed!” and instead pray the world’s most powerful prayer, “Thy will be done.”
Rick Warren puts it, “What matters is not how long you live, but how you live. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of your life.”
My prayer is that we will allow God to speak to us, to touch us, so we can become part of His story going through Advent. Then, for His story to be written in the hearts and lives of those around us, as we live out and share our faith this month leading to Christmas.
Let’s look at Luke 1:26-28. These verses set the scene. "God Sent."
Two great words that not only change the scene, they change everything.
The first time Gabriel spoke to Mary, he said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured!” Then he tells her again that she has found "favour with God" (v30). The little word "with", literally means that she has found 'grace by the side of God.'
Perhaps today, take time to draw near to God and see how He has drawn near to you. Find grace by His side!
Mary is in fellowship with God, and He is going to show unimaginable grace to her.
Notice also, she is a virgin, mentioned twice in verse 27.
Mary has no idea what is about to happen. She is completely in the dark, and not a clue that her life is about to be changed forever. But she allows her life to be aligned with the plan God has for her. What an interesting thought as we approach Christmas! Or as Romans 12:2 in the Message Bible puts it, "fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognise what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it."
Our text tells us so much about Mary’s relationship with God. Here was an ordinary young woman in an extraordinary situation. You see, whenever you obey God’s will, even when it doesn’t make sense, every time you trust Him and do whatever He says (even when you don’t understand it), you deepen your relationship with Him. You are getting to know Him better!
In fact, Jesus made it clear that obedience is a condition of intimacy with God. Remember He said, “You are my friends, if you do what I command” (John 15:14).
Then in verse 28 of our text we read, "The Lord is with you." Mary was made aware of her standing with God, and of God’s active presence in her life.
"The Lord is with you" was an approach used often through scripture when God wanted to reveal a plan for somebody’s life, to give an assurance of God’s call, God’s help and God’s assignment in one’s life.
Here we have the basis for a most wonderful life this Christmas. Think about it, rejoice in it, be amazed of the wonder of it, that God should come and speak to you; from a human perspective a nobody, from God’s perspective "highly favoured", the recipient of God’s grace.
Someone has said, “When God is at the centre of your life, you worship. When He’s not, you worry.”
When the story opens, Mary is engaged to Joseph. She’s a teenager and she is very much in love. Between the pledge and the wedding feast there was a period usually lasting 6-12 months. During which, the couple was considered to be married and were called husband and wife, but they did not live together. It’s at this point that God enters the scene and seems to ask, ‘Who do you love most?’
He is about to ask Mary to take part in something that is so earth-shattering. What God asks Mary to do will change her life and the course of history forever.
‘Write me into your story…whisper it to me and let me know I am yours.’
I read an article about a man named Jean-François Vernetti, who’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for collecting the most "Do Not Disturb" signs.
Vernetti, in his travels has managed to collect over 11,000 "Do Not Disturb" signs in a variety of languages. His dream is to collect a "Do Not Disturb" sign from every country in the world.
When I read the story, I was reminded that the "Do Not Disturb" sign is a universal sign, used in 1000s of hotels.
But also, and sadly, it’s a sign used by so many people displaying their attitude to many things. "Do not disturb” me; I am too busy with my own agenda, my own life and plans.
Let me ask you, how many of us subconsciously hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door of our hearts and lives because we are just too busy, even doing 'spiritual' or ‘Christmas’ things?
Let’s remove the sign! Please be open and obedient to the call of God on your life.
If anyone could have used the “Do Not Disturb” sign, it would be Mary.
But she was to understand afresh that her Father God loved her with an everlasting love.
Pete Greig writes, “The most important discovery you will ever make is the love the Father has for you.”
What if Father God asks, in His deep love for each one of us, to align our lives and will, in every dimension with Him and His plans today? Wow!
In our life, all of us will probably have experienced Father God ‘interrupting’ our plans. How available are you today to allow Him to do something unexpected, something extraordinary in and through us?
I like what Rick Warren says, “A lot of people like to follow the steps of Jesus...when they should follow the stops of Jesus.”
Please stop and allow time for God to speak to you. That's what makes the Christian life so exciting! God is in the business of doing a new thing!
Mary stopped and became part of the glorious story of Christmas.
Maybe, even today be prepared for the possibility that God by His Spirit can equip us for something totally new this Christmas.
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