Read Luke 2: 5-15.
Ah, Christmas. Think of the Christmas cards with the cozy stable, well-behaved animals, adoring shepherds and worshiping wise men. Except the word usually translated as “inn” (verse 7) is the Greek word “kataluma”—which can also mean guest room or upper chamber. So forget the first-century hotel, forget the grumpy innkeeper. It was in a very difficult, very harsh reality that God’s Son made his entrance on to the world’s stage: a peasant house, where animals were kept and fed inside the home alongside the family. Joseph and his teenage bride stayed in a home so cramped that there was no room upstairs with the rest of their host’s family; the only place to lay the baby was downstairs in the animals’ feed box.
Picture it: a small town in Palestine, a peasant’s home, a helpless baby in an animal’s feeding trough. To think that Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth in such a humble fashion. But he came, and bore the indignity of a public feeding trough—for you.
Reflect
How does the harsh reality of the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth help you experience that event in a fresh way? What does that tell you of Jesus’ love for you and others?
Live the Gospel
Share the message of Christmas all throughout the year by volunteering to prepare a meal or by providing entertainment at a homeless shelter or retirement home. Or volunteer to work in an orphanage or a relief organization that aids children around the world.
Pray:
Lord, do you see the plight of those who are without a home? See how their lives are ebbing away. Please find them a place where they can settle. Thank you for your unfailing love and the wonderful things you do.
Forest Lake Church’s First 40 days of Prayer
See www.EasterRestart.com for original theme order and content.
