I pray God will reveal something to us during this Christmas to change our lives. It won’t come from “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays.”
For there is nothing magical about this special season or holidays where there is no Christ. According to the Christmas Story as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, the shepherd’s lives were never the same again after that first Christmas, and we can be changed the same way.
When God decided to reveal the coming of His Son to the world, He selected the lowly shepherds. The setting was a group of shepherds out on the plains watching over their sheep, but then God sends to them an angel. This heavenly being makes the proclamation that in the city of David, Bethlehem, a Savior is being born. The shepherds were unlearned, ignorant and unclean and smelled of sheep. Nevertheless, God selected the lowest of the low men to reveal the coming of His Son.
Certainly, they were afraid as anyone would have been. No matter how uneducated the shepherds may have been, they learned as children the Messiah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem and would be King of Israel.
When the angels had gone, the shepherds made haste to go look for the Savior. Notice they did not question, but believed. For you see, they wanted to find the Savior. Their goal was to find the one they had been waiting for so long.
The shepherds did not just believe what they saw but put their knowledge to work. They went out, telling others of what they had seen. The first Christmas changed them forever. Who knows how many people came to believe the Savior had come through their ministry.
I remember one Christmas season a young man came to our church looking for money to get something to eat. He had gotten off a bus and had to get something to eat before going on his way. When I got him food and took him back to the bus station my secretary almost flipped her wig and asked, “How do you know he is not taking advantage of you? My answer was, “If he dares to cheat God, he has to deal with God, not me.” I don’t suggest we be gullible to every little scheme man may have, but when God speaks, we are supposed to respond. One small act of kindness changed my life that Christmas.What can we do to put our faith in action this Christmas? Will we lull ourselves though the season and sit back and wait for another December 25th to come? They sure come fast enough, but God wants something from us this year. Can we let God change our lives this year? My challenge is for us to do something for someone and keep it a secret from everyone but the person, God and us. If we truly love Jesus and believe He died on the cross for our sins, we will want to share His love with someone else.. The most important thing we can give is Jesus.