Ioan17 – John 17

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UCB Word 4U 2Day – GOD WITH US

LUKE 2:10

Frost-bitten, cold to the bone, back-breaking work and lonely as hell. The life of a shepherd was not to be envied. It was a thankless task – people looked down their noses at you. Poorly paid because it required minimal intelligence and even less personal hygiene. Looking after sheep was for the stupid. Stinking like a farmyard won you no friends. Yet God chooses to be born in the stench of a cattle-shed. And the angels choose to bypass the universities and theological colleges and churches to announce their good news to the lonely forgotten figures on a hillside. God is down-to-earth in more ways than one. The text tells us God is with us, whoever we are. Today God isn’t in the tinsel and the trappings. He is with the frost-bitten, cold homeless on the streets. He is with the lonely pensioner in her flat. He is with the drunk on the park bench. He is near the addict with the dark pipe. He is in the midst of all of us, but wherever there is a forgotten figure on a spiritual ‘hillside’, God’s heart is particularly there. And this Christmas we could be His messenger of good news. The pair of gloves we buy for the homeless guy tells him God is with us. The visit to the lone pensioner tells her God is with us. Joy to the world. Emmanuel. God is with us. What now? Pray that those around you would notice the difference in the way you enjoy Christmas, and how you celebrate God-with-us. Does the way you treat it show that it’s about Him, not you?