SCRIPTURE: This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12 NIV
The first advent of Jesus brought a lot of light into the world, but many people missed it. Light is helpful, even miraculous the way it exposes everything — from the beautiful, to the mundane, to the downright evil. Journey with author and blogger Amy Clemens as she explores the advent of one who said he was the light of the world…a light that shines in darkness…that exposes. A light that will make a second advent, with a power and glory no one will miss.
THOUGHT: In keeping with the fact that God chose a humble, poor young woman to fulfill his plan for a savior, he also chose humble, poor shepherds to whom he would send a spectacular birth announcement and a sign: The glory of God, the angel of God, a choir of angles singing “glory,” and an invitation to come and see, to test God, to trust God, to touch God in flesh.
But Mary and the shepherds weren’t the first to know – the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, and Levites would have known (in fact, memorized) the words of the prophets. Yet, when Scripture gives us a glimpse inside their heads and hearts, we can understand why God might have, as Mary said, “scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts (Luke 1:51).”
And so, it is the humble who are invited to go see the baby lying in a manger; it is the lowly who get to hear that God’s favor is resting on them – and I think the same might still be true today. Most people who come to faith do so wrapped in humility. Many who come as adults have tried their own way – making idols of success, education, perfection, money, toys, power, beauty, sex, drugs, alcohol, and yes, even religion. Still, they couldn’t be God, couldn’t reach God, and couldn’t find the love that would fill emptiness, the light that could overcome darkness.
It is the humble who are ready for good news. The humble, who hunger and thirst for a righteousness they can’t achieve on their own merit. They are the ones who will be filled, said Jesus (Mt. 5:6). So, don’t hang back out of fear or pride or your own self-imposed rules, accept God’s open invitation to come and see.
PRAYER: David passed along an invitation to “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him (Ps. 34:8).” May we be those who see, hear, and accept every invitation of yours, oh God!
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ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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