TIS A SEASON FOR A REASON

Hello again! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year, because I know I did. I guess there’s just something about ‘peace on earth, good will toward men’ that agrees with me. You know, one of my favorite things about the Christmas story is that not only did God humble Himself and come to us in the form of a helpless little infant, He had His angels share the first news of His son’s birth with a bunch of shepherds; the lowly, smelling-like-sheep, know-nothing shepherds. If there had been a scale of one to ten for upper to lower classes in those days, the sheep-herding class would be below the scale; that’s how lowly the shepherds were considered. They lived a life separated from the rest of the world and spent days on end out in the field with a flock of sheep. Ever been around sheep? Then you know they aren’t exactly the most desirable companions, and yet, God would have the birth of His one and only son, the Savior of the world, announced first to these shepherds. Why? Because He wanted to show us that no matter who we are, where we’ve been or what we’ve done, He loves and cares about us. He sent His son as a sacrifice for our sins. Not because of what we’ve done, but because of who we are. Not because of the accomplishments we can list or the trophies we’ve won, but because He created us in His own image and loves us with an immeasurable, unexplainable, awesome love. So why the shepherds? Why the stable birth? And later on, why the death of a criminal? To prove His love for all mankind, God Himself, the Creator of the universe, the Ruler of all the world, would humble Himself in every way to show us that He doesn’t care if we’re below the scale. He doesn’t care if we don’t measure up to the standards of those around us.

…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh
on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7b

He doesn’t see us through the eyes of the world, but rather, through the eyes of His great love for us. He loves us all so much, and to Him who sees us all as equal, there are no shepherds.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…
The Declaration of Independence

God loves us all the same. He came to earth over 2,000 years ago to prove that love. To prove to us that He sees us all as equal and because of that, we should see each other as equal, too. That, my friends, is why I love Christmas so much. It reminds me that there is something to hope for. There is a promise we can cling to in the midst of a world so full of hurt and wrong and hatred, and that’s the promise of God’s enduring love for us. Christmas is a time for love and hope. May the story of God’s love inspire you to live for him every day of your life for as long as your life continues. As long as He continues to give you breath, may you use your voice to declare the glory of God to all people, all nations. We have the hope of everlasting life, so why should we only celebrate that at Christmastime? Why not all year long?
Merry Christmas, friends!
-Abby