Devotions
Rev Gav
Trough
Luke 2.15-16
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
Reflect
The angels appeared to the shepherds and they were told to go and find this baby king lying in a feeding trough. The feeding trough, or manger, is mentioned three times by Luke. It was a sign for the shepherds that they had got the right baby — the one who they had been told was the Saviour and Lord of the world — and there was only one baby born that night who was lying in a feeding trough!
However, the feeding trough was not just a sign to the shepherds. It was part of a bigger sign. Jesus was born to an unmarried teenager in the dead of night; born into darkness; born into an occupied territory with brutal soldiers, corrupt politicians, religious elitists, and acute poverty; born into a tired feeding trough away from a loving tender community and away from a warm, snug home; born an outsider.
The status of Jesus as king did not come from his surroundings, his possessions, accommodation, parent-hood, sociology, or politics. It came from who God said he was. And it is the same for us too. Our status as God’s children does not come from what we own, where we live, who our parents are, what job we do, or whatever society or our government tells us we are. It comes from what God says about us — that we are God’s children, wanted, loved, and cherished.
Today, allow God to remind you how he sees you. Accept that you are his beloved child.
What does the birth of Jesus and the feeding trough tell us about the heart and character of God?
How does God define status?
Pray
Holy God
Thank you that my status as your child
doesn't depend on me or on anyone else;
Help it sink in that you love me,
and want the best for me.
This day and for ever.
and then