Testify!

The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told! Luke 2:20 MSG

At the time of the birth of Jesus, some unusual things happened, which underlined the fact that God is not moved by popular opinion or bothered about people's reception of his plans and purposes. A king was born and kept in a manger where animals fed, wise men from another part of the world came seeking him after seeing his star, and in today's extract, we see the forsaken and forgotten of the earth, mere shepherds, being the voice of proclamation of all that God has done.

How did we get here? How did God see fit to go see ordinary shepherds, people we do not consider important, to be the bearers of good news? First of all, the gift given was not for the rich or connected or powerful, but for all men. It was not for people who could afford it, but for all men,  irrespective of status, lineage, origin or tribe. These were men in the fields at night, probably tired, probably hungry and maybe sleepy. But one experience turned their lives around, and a visit by multitudes of angels turned them into evangelists, because they had seen and confirmed all that has been told them by the angel.

That is the second point for consideration here. These men were not intellectuals or rational people, who would subject all they heard or read to the test of logic and reason, and act accordingly. Nothing they heard that night made logical sense, yet they left all they had in the fields and went looking for the gift that had been given. Can we also be like these ones, believing all that God says, even when realities around us are showing otherwise? Can we stake our lives on God's reputation and Word, knowing that he has the power to do all he has said?

Of course, when a man has received unequivocal confirmation of all that he has heard or received, there can be no other reaction but to proclaim the truths of all s/he has heard. Today's extract says the shepherds let loose, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard. This season is the foundation of True Life itself, when Life was given to redeem what was lost. When you have received Life, you cannot keep it to yourself. You have got to share it with others. Have you received that life? Are you sharing that Life with others? His time of favour is here.