The hurting, the ignorant, the outcast, the stupid, the homeless, the beggar, the pain ridden, demon possessed, punk – these are all the ones for whom it is easiest to see Who Christ Was, Is and Will Be! The simple reason for that is in your Grace-Full Christmas Present # 13!
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” – Luke 2:8-9
One reason I like Luke’s account is it goes first to the simple people – the ones Christ came for! Why? One reason is they were not comfortable in who they were, what they had or how they were perceived by others – in short if you don’t need much you won’t need Him!
Religion is about cleaning up the sinner and making them comfortable in their sin by allowing only certain sins. Relationship is about healing the sinner by changing their “relationship” with that which makes them sinners – the power of sin is the law!
A shepherd has never been a high IQ position and in fact for the most part they were not really that connected with society as they lived out in the fields with the sheep. The angels didn’t come to the scholars who were looking for the Messiah – they came to the shepherds who held a lonely vigil outside of societies “in crowd” of trained craftsmen and merchants and “regular Sabbath go to temple crowd” – Why is that?
God never waste a message – and here we see it in plain language – if you are comfortable with who you are and what you are, it will be difficult for you to accept The Gospel of Grace presented through Jesus Christ!
Is there “fear” in accepting this new message of Grace? YES! Yes absolutely and for very good reason – Accepting Grace is Trusting in the unseen, unknown Word of God that Christ alone made you 100% completely connected with God again! This goes against human logic, human common sense and frankly is way too good to be true!
Faith is not the absence of fear – Faith is seeing the fear But Resting in The God!
Faith is accepting like a child that which the learned and educated and comfortable will almost always and assuredly turn away as fairy tale, myth and speculation because unless you come as a child you will never see the kingdom of God!
Faith is what you Must Have to have the “glory of the Lord shone around” and Faith is easiest when the comfort is least!
