365 Days with God - Day 4

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 4, December 24, 2013
Readings: Psalm 3, Genesis 4, 1 Chronicles 4, Luke 2:1-21

Much has been made, and much has been written, of the birth of Jesus Christ. This is fitting, as I believe that it is the most important birth the world has ever known.

However, it is as strange as it is marvelous. Born to a teen mom amidst community turmoil and probable judgement from their families. Born not in a place made for human habitation. Surrounded not by family and friends, but by animals. Having been through two childbirths, I cannot imagine this setting. How scared are Joseph and Mary? There is no midwife, no doctor, nobody assuring them that everything will be alright.

And who comes to congratulate them? Who is sent to welcome this King into the world? Shepherds. Stinky, societal outcasts who do not share in the community, but live on the outskirts.

I believe this is intentional - and a message to the reader. One, as demonstrated time and time again, God does not need human intervention to make His plans happen. Two, God does not believe in making outcasts, He includes them. Everyone in this story would be an outcast to the people of the day.

He has come. He has invited those that no one else would invite. He reaches the world through the unlikely and the unloved. And He continues to do that throughout His ministry, and has asked us to do the same.