Being that it is close to the time of year that most of us look forward to every year, I thought I would take the time to write about Christmas.
Christmas is my favorite time of year, not just because I'm a Christian and it represents the gift of Jesus to the world, but also because it's a great time to connect with family and friends and, for the most part, people are a little more joyful.
There are, however, the unavoidable stresses that go along with the holiday season. There are the people that want nothing more than to spend time with you and begin to stretch you every direction. There is the financial stresses that make it near impossible to think about nothing more than how you are going to provide the perfect Christmas for everyone around you. For those of you with spouses and children, you have to make time for that family and, as a Christ follower, attempt to truly instill the reason for the season and not get overwhelmed by the commercialization of what the world wants Christmas to be about. There is the stress of getting time off from your job and traveling to see family that might be at a distance. There are the stresses of just being alone... Your first Christmas away from family, or without a loved one who may have passed away.
Needless to say, this season can bring much more stress and pain, sorrow and total lack of hope if you don't understand what God did for us.
So, I want to look at the Christmas story from a perspective of a specific group of people that are at the center of attention that amazing night that Jesus came to earth: The shepherds in the field.
Luke 2:8-12 - Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
The shepherds were just like you and me. Here these men were out in the fields working, simply doing their job and trying to make a life.
Now, don't you think they too were worrying about life?
Don't you think that some were possibly having major financial problems? Worrying about how they were going to pay Caesar their taxes?
Don't you think they had children that were rebelling against their leadership?
Don't you think they were having marriage problems?
Don't you think they were dealing with health issues, either their own or of immediate family members?
Of course they were!! It was just a different time, but same problems.
Now, I want you to stop and realize one huge difference between the shepherds and us. Now follow me here, because this was huge for me when i made this realization.
Up to that point, the shepherds had no hope.
None...
Remember, God has been silent for many, many years... Somewhere around 400 years of oppression occurred during this intertestamental period without any prophetic word from God. His people were waiting for this Messiah and he had not come. They were being oppressed and defeated time and time again by different empires and rulers.
So there the shepherds sat... Waiting... Hopeless... Defeated... Alone.
But God never stopped loving His people.
He never stopped working.
The plan God set in motion from the beginning of creation was being carried out to give us all hope.
Then, hope arrived... In the form of a baby boy. Just like that. The angels presented themselves in the fields to the shepherds to make the big announcement!
So they traveled to this little stable in the middle of this small town to see the hope that God had given them. And they worshipped Him.
But the key comes in with what happens next...
Luke 2:17-18 - Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
They didn't just head back to their homes and get back to their problems. They went back and told a multitude of what they had witnessed! They spread this new hope and joy that they had never experienced! Jesus brought to them a chance to live again!
What I'm trying to say is simple; we have had and always will have hope because we have always had Jesus. No matter how bad things seem, no matter what problems we face, we have hope because we have Jesus. Jesus is here to take away those problems, for us to lean on when the burden becomes too great. He is the hope that brings us new life and a future.
So, when it seems like things are getting to be overwhelming, and life seems to be too much, and it seems like there if light at the end of the tunnel, and no hope seems to apparent, remember, we will always have hope because we have always had Jesus.
