Invited To The Stable: A 6-Day Family Advent DevotionalSample

When we read about the shepherds, we see how Jesus came for the people who are poor or excluded. Shepherds were always outside with the sheep, so they were usually dirty and smelly, and they didn’t have a lot of money. But those are the people that God invited to Jesus’ birthday celebration! God has a special love for the people who are left out or looked down on.

There’s another thing we learn from God inviting the shepherds to Jesus’ birthday party: God had a plan to rescue people from their sins. These shepherds were raising sheep near Jerusalem, where the temple was. That means they were probably raising sacrificial lambs. In the Old Testament, when you sinned, you would sacrifice a sheep. The sheep would take the punishment for your sins so you could be forgiven. Jesus is like our sacrificial lamb—he willingly died for our sins so that we could be forgiven.

Questions: 

• How do you think it felt to see all those angels in the sky singing? 
• Can you think of anybody that you look down on sometimes, like people used to look down on shepherds? Do people ever look down at you? 
• What difference does it make that God’s angels specifically sang to the shepherds? 
• Do you have any questions about the sacrificial lambs?