Have you ever noticed that God tends to choose the little things to serve His purpose? He chooses a childless man to father a nation, a shepherd boy to become a king. He chooses a tiny village near Jerusalem to become the birthplace for His own Son Jesus.
No doubt the people of Jerusalem would have complained. Theirs was the big city, the temple, the palaces; theirs were the priests and the kings and the soldiers. What did tiny Bethlehem have to offer?
Not much. The only thing Bethlehem had to offer was itself—its tiny, small, no-account self. That was just about right for what God wanted to do—to bring His Son Jesus, our Savior, into the world. Nobody would ever for a moment be able to claim credit for Him. Nobody could say, “Of course, He came from money; He had the best teachers; He grew up in a palace.” Jesus had none of those benefits. What He had came from God alone.
And what did He have, then? He had God’s little people—you, me, the shepherds, the local families. He had ordinary people, sinful and broken, beloved by God and called to be His own. He had Bethlehem to save—and then the rest of the world, even Jerusalem!—all of us His responsibility, His care, His beloved.
Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead in Jerusalem. But for God’s first coming into the world as a human baby, He chose tiny Bethlehem, a place as humble as the people He came to save.
THE PRAYER: Lord, thank You that You chose me to be Your own, although I am small and unimportant. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
* When have you felt out of your depth because the others around you were greater or more important than you?
* When has God used you to do something too great or important for you?
* Why do you think God likes to use the weakest and least important for His work?
Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.