Page 23 - Radical Love by Linda Robinson

RADICAL LOVE

need? They had the only true God, the God of Israel, looking out for

them, and they had each other. What a very blessed bunch they were!

To bring this to our level now and to where we are today, are we not

like these same shepherds? We now live in a society where followers
of Christ are considered to be totally irrelevant in society. Our beliefs

are different, our morals are different, and most of us don’t hold

positions of significant influence or power in the worldly sense. And
yet, the God of the whole universe has chosen to be our King! We need

to remember that when the enemy comes in with lies to make us feel
unworthy. We are the Beloved of our Father, who announced the birth

of Jesus—His gift to Humanity—firstly to the Shepherds. The ones that
entered the stable that night would have smelled as stinky as their

animals. Having been to Bethlehem myself, I have seen that they lived

together with their sheep in the same house! However, upon the cross
at Calvary, He took upon Himself the stink of sin and the rubbish of

our lives and exchanged it for the sweet-smelling fragrance of Christ,

which is unconditional love and acceptance. We are now a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, set apart for God.

In addition to the title ‘Shepherd-King’, in John’s Gospel (John 10:11),
Jesus is known as the ‘Good Shepherd’, with an emphasis on his laying

down his life totally for his followers. In the book of Hebrews (13:20),
he is referred to as the ‘Great Shepherd’—the one who was resurrected

from the dead and thereby provided everything necessary for our

spiritual well-being through his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Then

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