UnwrappedSample

This is it! The birth of Jesus. 

All of the promises God made to his people throughout the Old Testament were coming true. And, who are the first people to get this news? Shepherds—not the king, not the most important political leaders, not the really rich people—but, shepherds.

You would think that the big news like this would go to the most important people and the leaders first. But, that’s not what happened. 

Shepherds were ordinary people. They weren’t anyone special. Shepherds probably smelled because they hung around sheep all day. They might have been a bit awkward because they spent more time around animals than people. Some people would have looked down on shepherds.

It wasn’t an accident that God told the shepherds about Jesus’s birth first. It was exactly those kinds of people who Jesus would spend the most time with while he was on earth. Jesus spent a lot of time with those who others tended to look past—the poor, lonely, and outcast. Jesus hung out with tax collectors and “sinners”— people who other people would’ve called “bad” people. 

Because Jesus hung out with these kinds of people, he was actually given a nickname—“friend of sinners.” 

God loves everyone. No one is excluded. It doesn’t matter what other people say about them, think about them, or what labels they’ve been given. God loves them.

The same is true of you. It doesn’t matter what others say about you, think about you, or what labels you’ve been given. God loves you.

And he calls us to do the same. We are to love others the way Jesus loved others. 

Question: Who do you need to show love to today?