Day Eleven
Verse For The Day
1 Samuel 16:7
‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’
‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’
One of the themes of the Christmas story (and of The Bible as a whole) is that God uses people that the world sees as unremarkable to do remarkable things for Him.
Mary and Joseph were not rich and powerful, just a carpenter and his wife-to-be living quietly in a small village. Joseph wasn’t a priest or a rabbi and he didn’t have any role that looked outwardly ‘holy’. He was just a practical guy making and building things for people in his community.
So why did God choose to place His Son in the care of this unremarkable couple? I believe that the answers can be found in their actions. When Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel and told she will give birth to the Son Of God, her response is “I am the Lord’s servant…May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). And when the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and he is told to take Mary as his wife and assume the responsibility of being a father to a child that was not his own, “he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:24).
James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead”. Mary and Joseph had simple faith and they not only believed, they acted.
Joseph would be visited in dreams twice more by the angel: firstly, with the instruction to flee with his young family to the foreign land of Egypt, and again when he was told to return to Nazareth once danger had passed. I love how it records Joseph’s response in the Message Bible using just two words on both occasions: “Joseph obeyed” (Matthew 2:14 and 21).
Mary and Joseph weren’t the only examples of unlikely people chosen by God to be part of the Christmas story.
Shepherds were seen by many in Biblical times as ‘unclean’, the lowest of the low, yet they were chosen as some of the first people on Earth to meet the newborn King and be witnesses to others of the Good News.
And when God did choose to reveal the arrival of His Son to those in authority, it wasn’t the Jewish teachers of the law that were the first to know but wise men from the east who studied the stars, who went from unbelievers to falling to their knees in worship in the presence of the Saviour of the world.
Today, I want to encourage you that God can use you just as he used Mary, Joseph and countless others throughout the Bible. You may not be a preacher or a worship leader on stage but you can invite that friend or family member to church this Christmas. You can visit that elderly neighbour who is spending Christmas alone this year. You can cook a meal or buy a gift for that needy family in your community. You can serve and use the gifts God has given you, whatever they are, because He can use it all to point people back to His Son.
God sees your heart. Simply trust and obey because He can use you.
Mary and Joseph were not rich and powerful, just a carpenter and his wife-to-be living quietly in a small village. Joseph wasn’t a priest or a rabbi and he didn’t have any role that looked outwardly ‘holy’. He was just a practical guy making and building things for people in his community.
So why did God choose to place His Son in the care of this unremarkable couple? I believe that the answers can be found in their actions. When Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel and told she will give birth to the Son Of God, her response is “I am the Lord’s servant…May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). And when the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and he is told to take Mary as his wife and assume the responsibility of being a father to a child that was not his own, “he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:24).
James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead”. Mary and Joseph had simple faith and they not only believed, they acted.
Joseph would be visited in dreams twice more by the angel: firstly, with the instruction to flee with his young family to the foreign land of Egypt, and again when he was told to return to Nazareth once danger had passed. I love how it records Joseph’s response in the Message Bible using just two words on both occasions: “Joseph obeyed” (Matthew 2:14 and 21).
Mary and Joseph weren’t the only examples of unlikely people chosen by God to be part of the Christmas story.
Shepherds were seen by many in Biblical times as ‘unclean’, the lowest of the low, yet they were chosen as some of the first people on Earth to meet the newborn King and be witnesses to others of the Good News.
And when God did choose to reveal the arrival of His Son to those in authority, it wasn’t the Jewish teachers of the law that were the first to know but wise men from the east who studied the stars, who went from unbelievers to falling to their knees in worship in the presence of the Saviour of the world.
Today, I want to encourage you that God can use you just as he used Mary, Joseph and countless others throughout the Bible. You may not be a preacher or a worship leader on stage but you can invite that friend or family member to church this Christmas. You can visit that elderly neighbour who is spending Christmas alone this year. You can cook a meal or buy a gift for that needy family in your community. You can serve and use the gifts God has given you, whatever they are, because He can use it all to point people back to His Son.
God sees your heart. Simply trust and obey because He can use you.
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2025
December
Day OneDay Two - The Promise And Prophecy Of Jesus’s BirthDay Three - How Can This Be? Trusting God When The Outcome Is UnclearDay Four - Waiting In HopeDay Five - Hold On, Don't Let GoDay Six - Don't Miss The SignDay Seven - The Promise of the Indescribable GiftDay EightDay NineDay Ten - Two QuestionsDay ElevenDay TwelveDay Thirteen - The Magnificat – Mary’s Burst of PraiseDay FourteenDay Fifteen - The Greatest Gift Of All Time