You Are Invited In

One of my favorite Christmas memories growing up was the time my mother shared her favorite Christmas memory with our church family. My father-pastor asked my mother to share something meaningful about Christmas, and she went on to share how special it was for her when she discovered that her father was really Santa, and that Santa didn’t exist. 

Now, the only problem with her sharing that specific memory was that she shared it during our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service…in a room full of young kids who still believed in Santa! Needless to say, my father hasn’t asked my mother to share any other memories with our church family since. 

 But despite my mother’s inopportune timing in sharing that story, there really is something special about discovering the truth. When you take a big picture look at the Christmas story, you’ll discover that it is simply God revealing the truth of Jesus to one person after another. 

 And one group who stands out are the shepherds in Luke 2. I love that God brings this particular group of men the birth announcement of the ages, because God doesn’t bring the good news of Jesus to the people we would think of first. Now, my guess is most of you reading don’t know any shepherds personally. But shepherds in the first century were culturally despised. 

They were considered thieves, their testimony was inadmissible in a court of law, and they were seen as so ceremonially unclean that they weren’t even allowed to enter the temple (you know things are bad when church won’t even let you in the doors). 

 Yet, moments after the birth of Jesus, the announcement of the good news of the Gospel comes to them first. Why? Because the heart of the Gospel is that God came to those could not come to Him. When it comes to sharing the news that all the hopes and promises of the people of God are being fulfilled in Jesus, God chooses not the extraordinary, but the less-than-ordinary.

 Don’t miss this: God’s invitation to all people is all-inclusive. I don’t know your story. I don’t know what you’re going through at the moment. But I do know God’s love for you is so deep, God has sent us Jesus to give us a way out of sin, shame, and guilt. In Jesus, there is forgiveness of sin. 

The gracious response of God to sinners is not to condemn us, but to give us Jesus so He can save us. God invites us in the coming of Jesus: “I’m sending you a Savior for your sin. I’m sending you a Shepherd to lead you into life. You’ve wandered, wavered, and wanted other things more than you’ve wanted Me. But I’ve come for you. No matter how long you’ve been on the outside, you’re invited in.”

 God came to them…and now He comes to YOU. Do you realize your deep and desperate need for Jesus? Come to Christ. And hold nothing back, because there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. Jesus loves you, and the announcement of Christ is that you can be accepted in Christ.