Permission to be Perplexed 

[Part 2, Chapter 8] 

Mary is perplexed.

Favour will do that to you. There is a bewilderment that goes hand in hand with favour.

It sounds like this:

• Am I good enough?
• How can God’s love possibly include me?
• Is it true he loves me outside of my faith, faults, failures, and fears?
• What if I don’t understand everything?
• What if I blow it, you know, morally and stuff?

There’s a wise saying when it comes to financial investing: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

There’s a wise saying when it comes to living in Father’s love: it absolutely will seem too good to be true, because it is.

That is the nature of favour. If it wasn’t too good to be true, it wouldn’t be grace-enriching, mercy-releasing, peace-providing favour.

It is seriously perplexing to be the passive recipient of such outlandishly rich goodness.

Passive? Yes, for this is God’s work. We don’t remain passive, or else we cheapen grace. But unless we realise the passive state in which favour is poured out upon us, we weaken the power it has to impact the core of our being.

Remember, Mary was doing nothing.

Remember, you were doing nothing when you were graced.

Remember, all creation was doing nothing when Father chose it in love.

This is indeed perplexing. Favour always is.

What do we do?

Be perplexed. Perhaps, for the first time in your life, be blown away by the vast inclusion that is yours and the astonishing nature of it.

You are a daughter of the Most High God. You are a son of the living God. Out of seven billion people in the world, he knows about the itch behind your ear and the freckle on your wrist. That’s perplexing.

He chose you before you did anything religious or even remotely Christian. He doesn’t really care about your efforts to please him because he was already pleased with you before you were conceived. Perplexing indeed.

He knows every thought you’ve had, all your ‘hidden’ fantasies; all your weaknesses and your area of susceptibility; he sees when you manipulate others, when you sulk, get jealous, and put others down; he sees when you block others out through the silent treatment, when your anger simmers … for weeks, or when you fly off in rage.

He sees and knows all this, and he loves you. He is not embarrassed by you, nor he is turned off by you. He accepts you. He includes you. He embraces you. He smiles at you.

That is perplexing. That is favour!

Give in to it, surrender to it, embrace it, receive it. Let the impact of being chosen blow your mind.