The Shepherd's Invitation
I have taken time this Christmas season to imagine
life from the perspective of a shepherd. Not everyday life...but the amazing
gift they were given with the invitation to come to the manger. They were
just minding their own business, hanging out in the fields, living a fairly
solitary life taking care of the sheep. Even though we picture old guys with
crooks and staffs, they had to be diligent and aware at all times, on the
look out for anything in search of a midnight mutton snack, definitely not
wimps. Anyway, imagine yourself right now, just doing whatever it is you do,
making dinner, doing laundry, helping with homework, basically just living
one day to the next.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, blinding light splits the night wide open, and
angels...not cute little cherubs with robes and haloes, but biblical angels,
messengers of the Lord on high, fiery fearsome creatures...come with an
invitation, an invitation to an event that has been prophesied about for two
thousand years, but no one has really mentioned lately. It had seemed as
though the party wasn't really going to happen...God had been eerily silent
for the last seven hundred years. The shepherds, in all their humdrumness,
have been invited to the gala to end all galas, to see the Messiah on the
night of his long-promised arrival. Do you think the shepherds worried about
what to wear, how their hair looked, or the fact that they probably hadn't
bathed in some time?
The invitation we receive is maybe not quite as dramatic as angels singing
the Hallelujah Chorus in the night sky, but it is a spectacular invitation
all the same. We are invited to take part in the celebration that is Christ,
the celebration of victory over sin and the grave. A celebration over death,
to partake in the eternal promise that God promises through Christ. What are
you going to do with it? Will you spend endless time worrying about what He
sees when He looks at you, worried that you aren't properly dressed for
entrance into such an event, wondering why He summoned you to come?
Or will you go, just put everything on the back burner, and go? Accepting
this invitation requires only one thing, and it isn't a big house, fancy
clothes, or a big bank account. It requires a believing heart. The only
thing you need to accept the most important invitation of your life is a
heart that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. He is not waiting for you
to clean yourself up first. We can never be good enough, clean enough, rich
enough, nice enough, anything enough, to gain entrance into Heaven on our
own, so God sent His Son to lead us in. Like the shepherds invited the night
of the first Christmas, Jesus is our Shepherd, protecting us from prey,
watching over us, leading us in the direction of safety.
As this Christmas season winds down, will this be the year you don't pack up
Jesus with the Santa Clauses and the Christmas ornaments? Will you make a
place for Him in your heart, accept His offer to come and dwell forever?
There is no fancy dress code, no gold ticket required, just an open and
believing heart.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God." (John
1:12)
Debbie Giese