Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?
James 2:5

Merry Christmas! We celebrate the birth of our Savior, born in a stable, wrapped in rags, and laid down to sleep in a feed bin because there was no room in the hotel for such people.

At His presentation in the temple a month later, His parents brought the offering that corresponded to those who couldn’t afford the really good offering: a pair of pigeons instead of a lamb. They were dirt poor; the Son of God was born into a poor family.

God certainly could have arranged otherwise. He could have been born in a palace. Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of the royal family line of David. But God had arranged things so that the king who was ruling over Judea was Herod - an ethnic Idumean Arab who had converted to Judaism. The descendants of David were not only not on the throne, they were viewed with suspicion as a potential threat to Herod’s tenuous hold on power.

God takes a personal interest in identifying with those whom the world despises: the poor, the rejected, the “defective” ones who don’t measure up to the world’s lofty standards of wealth, glamour and power.

He opens His kingdom to the poor, invites them in, and promotes them to places of honor. He says that many who are “first” in this world will be last in the Kingdom of Heaven, and many who are the “last” here will be first in the Kingdom. He calls us to love, serve, and honor the poor of this world, in His name.

Lord Jesus, give me a heart like Yours, to love and honor the poor of this world; the despised and forgotten ones whom the world despises, but You lovingly remember. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles