A Devotional Thought From Luke

And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered everyone at all things which Jesus did, …     Luke 9:43

                So what happened was, the crowd of people around Jesus were amazed at the power of God when Jesus cast out the demon afflicting one man’s son, and they wondered, they thought about what this and other miracles Jesus did could mean. They thought about, and hopefully thought it through, and came to an accurate realization of what his work said about him. They pondered, as it were, these things in their hearts.

                At this season of the year, Christmas time, such an idea takes us back to Bethlehem in Judea where shepherds who saw the realization of the angel message that they would find a baby in a manger who is literally the Savior, Messiah, and Lord of the people of God, proclaimed it throughout the town, and we are told those who heard that reporting wondered ( I wonder if this announcement could really be true, and if it is, I wonder what this all means for me, my people and nation, the world.) At the same time the young mother of that newborn, who had already heard many amazing things about the child she was given to bear, listened to the shepherds’ story and saw them shouting it into town, and she pondered it  in her heart (How does this fit in with what I already know? Will I ever understand my baby?).

                Decades after they wondered at Bethlehem they were still wondering about this Jesus who had come from the Father.  If the Christmas message declared by churches worldwide can get people to wonder about Jesus, and ponder his identity and purpose in coming to earth, lives around the globe, and the world system itself, can change, and, in many ways, be made new.

                Go tell it in the churches and in their ministries everywhere that Jesus the savior and king is born.