And she brouht forth her first born son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7 NKJV
God’s greatest gift came wrapped in swaddling clothes. Will you take time to unwrap your gift today?
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Luke 2:8 KJV
For a short time, I worked a third shift job and found that I had joined that special group of people who only see the world from midnight till dawn. On the night that Jesus was born, just above Bethlehem those shepherds were the third shift workers of their day. Probably the more important shepherds got the first shift jobs. Yet on that night, those unnamed and seemingly unimportant third shift shepherds became the first people on earth to hear the good news of the birth of Jesus! The angel told them that God had remembered His people, He remembered Bethlehem and He even remembered shepherds whom everyone else had forgotten!
Did you ever stop to think that God also remembers you? He is not satisfied to visit only the better homes in the better neighborhoods with the biggest and most beautiful churches. In the same way that those shepherds were watching their flocks at night, God also watches over us in the darkest moments of our lives. He knows right where we are. He hears us and He still sends angels with His message of good news. There is no better place than right where you are to hear the news; that Jesus Christ came to bring hope and salvation to us all: even to third shift shepherds out in their fields at night!
I want to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. Thank you for all the encouraging comments, new ideas and prayers for our family throughout the year. Below is the Christmas message which I shared at Discovery Villages this year. I hope you enjoy it as well as my “Country” version of Angels We Have Heard on High. In the words of Tiny Tim, “God bless you each and every one!”
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV
There are so many beautiful stories that surround Christmas. We see them in children’s pageants, and films, or read them in books and most of all in the Bible. But what if the wise men had never followed the star, or if after coming to Bethlehem, they decided not to give their gifts? What if the shepherds refused to go see the baby, or if there had been no manger for Jesus to be laid in? The answer is clearly that God would still have given his only Son.
But my problem with Christmas is that sometimes the people that I love, overlook, ignore and take that love for granted. I get discouraged and don’t understand why some folks just don’t get with the program. After all it’s Christmas! Then I remember that you and I are, more often than not, just like that with God. We forget that when Jesus came to the manger in Bethlehem, there wasn’t a secret escape clause tucked in underneath His swaddling clothes and His love wasn’t given with a contract obligation. Rather, Christmas came as an unexpected, undeserved and shocking display of God’s love, based entirely on grace. Now of course, those who never came: the Herrods, the religious leaders, and the inn keepers with no room, missed out on receiving that gift. But their absence in no way diminished the miracle. So, this Christmas, whether you are surrounded by family or feeling isolated or rejected, remember that Jesus came for isolated shepherds, rejected couples like Joseph and Mary, and He also came for you. He has not forgotten you. No matter what others do, we can simply bow before Him and trust that the response of others will be in His hands, who knows how to work all things together for our good. Then come and worship, come and worship. Worship Christ our newborn King!
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