Weekly Devotion – Believe!

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a savior.

If man were to script the our savior’s birth, Jesus would have been born in a mansion to a wealthy, powerful family. The news of his birth would have first been sent to one of the power brokers of the day – King Herod or Caesar Augustus.

Instead, God’s script was different – no palace, but a manger surrounded by animals – no power brokers, but the social outcasts of the day, a band of shepherds. They were considered untrustworthy and their work made them ceremonially unclean. As a result, they could not participate in worship.

After being surprised (and terrified) by a visit from the angel of the Lord, then an army of angels, the shepherds were confronted with what to do with the message the heard: “Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:11 What did this band of “misfits” do with the very first announcement of the gospel? The believed! “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” Luke 2:15

They didn’t stop to discuss whether it’s exactly according to what was written in Daniel. The didn’t question if they really saw angels or if they were just imagining things because the were overworked. The didn’t get a religious leader to accompany them. They don’t even get cleaned up! They hurry off to Bethlehem to find the Messiah. They believed all that God had told them!

What are you doing with what God has told you? Are you acting and reacting with faith? Or are you discussing logistics – bargaining with God – nit-picking the assignment – getting another interpretation?

What is God asking you to do today in faith? Just believe! And you will be amazed at how God works in your life – how He works through you to reach a hurting world – how He spreads His message to expand His kingdom.

Hollie Jennings