Glory to God
Luke 2:17-19 When they saw the baby, they told what the angels said about this child. Everyone was surprised when they heard what the shepherds told them. Mary continued to think about these things, trying to understand them.
I’ve been thinking how that very first Christmas might have played out on social media? Joseph and Mary tweeting. The Maggi being guided in through the GPS on their smartphones. God posting the whole manger in a stable thing on Facebook.
And of course, if you could take those people and show them the technology we take for granted today, they’d be totally blown away. But it wouldn’t have been the same for the shepherds to rock up to the stable and tell Mary that they’d come because they’d seen it all unfold on Facebook.
What they did tell her was about the heavenly host, praising God. They told her how these angels had sung, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he favours”. They told her what the angels had said about her Son.
When they saw the baby, they told what the angels said about this child. Everyone was surprised when they heard what the shepherds told them. Mary continued to think about these things, trying to understand them. (Luke 2:17-19)
Just imagine, if you’d been one of those gathered around Jesus in that stable, I suspect you would have been surprised too. I know I would have been. A host of angels in the sky, the glory of God unfolding before their very eyes.
I mean Mary knew that Jesus was someone special. That much she’d been told. But this? Imagine what was going on in her young mother’s heart in that moment, as the shepherds told of what they had seen and heard.
Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart, why wouldn’t she? This was amazing. Utterly … amazing. It was so real, that moment there in the stable when the shepherds told their story. As real as the reality that surrounds you and me here and now. But it must have felt totally surreal, as though somehow reality had been suspended.
It turns out that Christmas isn’t just about today’s mundane reality. It’s about glory – God’s glory. So, as you celebrate Christmas again today, may the glory of God shine once more in your heart, through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the wonder that Mary experienced, overwhelm you and overtake you on this special day.
May you have a truly blessed and wondrous Christmas.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
Blessed by this devotion?
Share it with a friend!
Respond