Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. Luke 2:20 NABRE
The shepherds of the field heard from the angels of Jesus birth in Bethlehem. A multitude of heavenly hosts praise and sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) Hearing this choir of heavenly hosts the shepherds went at once to see for themselves. After meeting the family and seeing the baby they returned to their fields and their roles as shepherds. Of course they returned glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.
The response of the shepherds is sort of a standard for meeting Jesus. When we have a real experience of Jesus, we are changed. We are happy for all we have seen and experienced. We feel like we are new, reborn is the language some people use, even Jesus used this language speaking to Nicodemus about encountering the Holy Spirit (John 3:3) Experiencing Jesus creates an internal change that is hard to describe. But then we return to what we were doing before. We live our lives in the same role, if we were shepherds we continue as shepherds, teachers are teachers, a policemen or a doctor, or scientist, or student, whatever we were doing before we return to that place in our life. Eventually we may change, discover a new vocation, but rarely is the initial Jesus experience a force for vocational change. The initial experience begins a change supported more and more by prayer and discovery, learning more about Jesus and the Word he came to share. There are exceptions, but this is typical of the Jesus experience as we see from the shepherds. Experience Jesus, be changed within and live the same; differently.
Have you experienced Jesus? What change took place in you after this experience?
Experiencing Jesus creates an internal change that is hard to describe. The initial experience begins a change supported more and more by prayer and discovery, learning more about Jesus and the Word he came to share. Click To Tweet#bible’#godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #change #shepherds #Luke #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways