Unwrapping Christmas - Viewing the Nativity Through Luke's EyesSample

Day 23

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"   Luke 2:13-14

I can only imagine this scene. An angel comes to the shepherds, then the scroll of heaven rolls back to reveal an innumerable host of heavenly beings. All proclaim the same thing. One, only God Almighty is worthy to receive our worship. Two, our Heavenly Father is for us and for all people.

How many times has the enemy of our soul lied to us about these two truths? How often has the devil or our own selfishness whispered to us that there are other things to worship in this life, such as money, security, influence, relationships, position, or possessions? Or how many times have we chosen to believe the bad press of our thoughts subtly telling us that the Father is against us, that He really doesn’t have our best interests at heart, or that He is holding out on us? I mean, think about how these two avenues of thinking are the direct antithesis of the angels’ proclamation.

Our God is the One and Only to be worshipped and to live for. And, our God is for us, with us, on our side, and desires that His goodness and peace lavishly pour through our lives. Not to ruffle feathers here, but have we stymied the angels’ proclamation by being against the world who is lost (like we once were), more than proclaiming God’s goodness to reach everyone everywhere, no matter what? Just some food for thought.

We first must believe these truths deeply for ourselves. Until that happens, those who don’t yet know the Lord will never want what we have. Why would they? These words may require some deep soul searching, healing, and a broader release of the Holy Spirit within us. Then, and only then, can we be like the shepherds who couldn’t keep quiet about the love of God for a weary world (Luke 2:17)? And with the shepherds, we will glorify God with great joy and shout about His love and goodwill from the rooftops.