During this Christmas season I have been thinking a lot about the message that the angels brought to the shepherds on that hilltop thousands of years ago.
And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11 (KJV)
I can’t imagine how much that must have impacted the shepherds. To hear that the long awaited Messiah had come must have been spectacular. A saviour had come! Christ the Lord. This is the wonderful message of Christmas. The long wait is over. I don’t think I had ever really thought about these words in “Oh Holy Night” before:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
All of creation was waiting for a saviour to save us from the curse and with His birth: relief. The renewal of creation was now in sight.
As happy as the first part of the angel’s message must have made the shepherds, imagine how strange the next part must have sounded.
“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:12 (KJV)
They must have thought that they had misheard. A manger? Don’t you mean a jewel encrusted golden crib? A throne possibly? I already wrote about Christ’s humble birth in a few blogs two weeks ago so I won’t go into it again. If you want to read more, check back there. Since then, I have been thinking about the manger in a bit of a different way. I had the opportunity to speak at a commissioning of some of our staff this past week. This is one of my favorite duties. I love to emphasize each staff member’s call within Christian horizons. I like to point out that Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) mean “anointed one”. Each Christian has God’s anointing. It symbolizes His choosing them for the work they will do for His Kingdom. We believe every staff member of CH has been called by God. We all need you. Every staff member is truly an answer to prayer of those we serve, the families of those we serve and of our staff teams.
Before I puff up all of our egos too much, let me point something out. Most of us look more like mangers than jewel encrusted cribs. We too carry the Saviour. We may not look exactly like those who prayed for us imagined us to be but much like the manger it’s what’s inside that counts. We may not look like it but we have good news of great joy to bring to the world.
The Saviour has come. He is Christ the Lord.
And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11 (KJV)
I can’t imagine how much that must have impacted the shepherds. To hear that the long awaited Messiah had come must have been spectacular. A saviour had come! Christ the Lord. This is the wonderful message of Christmas. The long wait is over. I don’t think I had ever really thought about these words in “Oh Holy Night” before:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
All of creation was waiting for a saviour to save us from the curse and with His birth: relief. The renewal of creation was now in sight.
As happy as the first part of the angel’s message must have made the shepherds, imagine how strange the next part must have sounded.
“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:12 (KJV)
They must have thought that they had misheard. A manger? Don’t you mean a jewel encrusted golden crib? A throne possibly? I already wrote about Christ’s humble birth in a few blogs two weeks ago so I won’t go into it again. If you want to read more, check back there. Since then, I have been thinking about the manger in a bit of a different way. I had the opportunity to speak at a commissioning of some of our staff this past week. This is one of my favorite duties. I love to emphasize each staff member’s call within Christian horizons. I like to point out that Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) mean “anointed one”. Each Christian has God’s anointing. It symbolizes His choosing them for the work they will do for His Kingdom. We believe every staff member of CH has been called by God. We all need you. Every staff member is truly an answer to prayer of those we serve, the families of those we serve and of our staff teams.
Before I puff up all of our egos too much, let me point something out. Most of us look more like mangers than jewel encrusted cribs. We too carry the Saviour. We may not look exactly like those who prayed for us imagined us to be but much like the manger it’s what’s inside that counts. We may not look like it but we have good news of great joy to bring to the world.
The Saviour has come. He is Christ the Lord.
Mark Wallace
1 comments:
Often times, we as workers forget that what we are doing in life is more than work. We are all doing ministry. Whether we work as farmers, or as CH employees, it's all part of our annointing.
We often view work as just work, and nothing more.
I appreciate this devotion on this date, Dec. 22nd, as it has helped me to refocus things. Christ lives in me. He LIVES in me! That's such great news! Time to celebrate His birth, and all of our rebirths!
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