Luke 2: 15-21:
“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
The shepherds followed the angelic instruction, hurriedly searching to find the baby that had been described to them. Once they saw the baby for themselves, they couldn’t wait to go out to share the joyful news, the wonder of what they had witnessed, and then they returned to the manger to glorify and praise God for what they had seen and heard.
How well I remember when I first believed, the joy that flowed from my newly cleansed heart, and how anxious I was to tell anyone who would listen about my New Birth and how Jesus had become my Savior. Oh, that I would never lose that joy, or desire to share what I “have heard and seen!” “Go, tell it on the mountain…that Jesus Christ is born!”
Precious Lord, I pray that I would “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks (me) to give the reason for the hope that (I) have.” (1Peter 3:15). Instill afresh in my heart today the same joy I experienced on that day forty-eight years ago. Praise and glory to you, O God, for the things I have heard and seen! Amen.
