Spread the Word
“Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child” (Luke 2:17).
What did the shepherds do in response to what they had seen and heard? They spread the word.
In keeping with their active nature, we dont read about them hanging around Mary and Joseph for a long time. They got moving again. There is a sense of energy about these shepherds, of enthusiasm, of contagious excitement.
The news and experience was so great that it had to be shared. Have you had an experience like that recently where something really positive happened and you couldn’t wait to share it with someone? So you called your best friend or your spouse or someone else as quickly as possible, just to share the good news. This is what happened with the shepherds. They shared the amazement with others.
What God has done for us needs to be shared. Picture them like excited children, running up to people, jumping around, stammering out the facts like it was just so amazing! “You should have seen it! The angel appeared, and then there was a multitude, and it was all true the baby was right like they said, and they said it is the Christ,” and then grabbing the next person and saying the same thing.
Now maybe that isn’t your personality type and that is alright. But the principle stands that the good news needs to be shared.
Maybe you share it on a quiet note to a friend. Maybe it is in a deliberate action that demonstrates concretely the love of God. Or maybe it is excited, energetic, and lively. The important thing is that the message gets shared. Find or create opportunities to follow the example of the shepherds to invite someone to share the amazement and the wonder of the fact that God became man so that we could be in relationship with Him.