Devotion:
Read Luke 2:15-20.
Yes, I know; this is a story from last month. “Why are we looking at this a month later?” you may be asking. I’m glad you asked! This portion of the story fits in with our focus for this week. In the sermon tomorrow, we will be focused on how we sometimes let the opinions and experiences of others overly influence our thinking and beliefs about God.
No matter what other people were saying about God, these shepherds had a personal experience of good news from God to share. I’m guessing they were still doing so a month later. I’m guessing they told about that experience for the rest of their life.
Even when they first experienced the angels and their message, they could have decided to keep it to themselves, not bothering to go and try to find this baby, figuring that nobody would believe them anyway. There is no account of all the people in Bethlehem believing the news of who this baby was. Rather, we only have the account from Matthew’s Gospel of the children there being slaughtered by Herod’s soldiers in his attempt to get rid of this future threat to his throne. That event probably caused everyone there to question whether there could be any good news from God. But these shepherds still had a good news experience and message from heaven to share. That is all each of us are invited to do; share our own experience. From your experience, let others know the message God has given you.
Personal Worship Option:
Consider offering this prayer in your own words: Lord, I give thanks for the many experiences you have given me, revealing your presence in my life. Help me share those with others in a way that offers your good news. Amen.
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