Strange Insignia

By Dr. James R. Miller
This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough."

Luke 2:12

What a strange sign this by which to recognize the King of glory! The shepherds would not find Him robed in purple garments, like the child of a prince, but wrapped in swaddling clothes. They would not find Him in a palace, but in a stable, with a manger for His cradle. Is it not strange that the very marks and authentications of Messiah's character and mission, by which these shepherds recognized Him when they found Him, were these tokens of poverty and humiliation? This tells us what empty things are the world's marks of greatness. No one would expect ever to recognize earthly royalty by any such insignia as these. When Christ came, He despised all the badges of rank by which men indicate greatness, and wore the insignia of earthly poverty and meanness. Yet was He less great because He bore not the world's stamp of honor?

True greatness is in the character, never in the circumstances. No matter about wearing a crown; make sure that you have a head worthy of wearing a crown. No matter about the purple; make sure that you have a heart worthy of the purple. No matter about a throne to sit on; make sure that your life is regal in its own intrinsic character, that men will recognize the King in you though you toil in the field or mine, or serve in the lowliest place.

These strange tokens tell us also of Christ's sympathy with the lowliest phases of life, with the plainest and poorest of the people. None can say that Christ never came to them. If He had been born in a palace amid splendours, the common people would never have felt that He was their Savior as they feel now that He is. Christ went down and touched life at its lowest point, that there might be none to whom His mission of love and grace should not reach.

January 25, 2012 - 9:59pm
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bapearl
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"This tells us what empty things are the world's marks of greatness. No one would expect ever to recognize earthly royalty by any such insignia as these."

I am so grateful that Jesus came into the world and willingly emptied Himself of pride and earthly royalty that I might be filled with His Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. His mercies are fresh and new every morning and I know that it is only through His Guiding Light that I have been taken by the hand and lead away from endlessly chasing the approval of others and fulfillment in empty works to seeking and soaking in the Love of Christ Jesus and knowing that I am eternally loved and accepted for who I am right now! My identity has gradually been transformed from a person totally dependent on others for their approval and direction to a beloved and confident child of God who seeks my direction from the Good Shepherd and Light of the World. My desire is to please Christ, not others, and to be a pearl of great price in His holy Kingdom of Light. I am excited about each day and looking forward to each new day with enthusiasm and holy zeal!

 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being my Deliver and my Restorer ~ the One and Only Who fills and sustains  me. Thank You for inviting me into Your heart with the following words: "28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 29Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls [Matthew 11:28-29, Amplified Bible]." I love You, my Lord! Alleluia! Amen!

 

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