by Pastor Rich Carlson

As I stood on an eastern street of the city of Bethlehem, I was only slightly distracted by the Palestinian protest right behind me, about to turn violent with anti-American sentiment. I gazed as unassumingly as possible toward the hill country just outside this famous city. I tried to focus on what those hills might have looked like about 2000 years ago, when shepherds looked up from tending their flocks to see a host of angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

 I must admit, my experience in Bethlehem thus far was not quite like the annual children’s program at church each Christmas season, complete with bathrobes and paper wings. I wanted to experience the “glory” but I wasn’t seeing the “peace.”

“These things happen all the time,” I was told. “Don’t be afraid.”

There in front of me were the same hills where those shepherds saw the angels and heard that same phrase: “Don’t be afraid.” But that’s where the two situations’ similarities ended. Mine was followed by turmoil; the shepherds’ was followed by, “We bring you good news!”

The part I like best about this story is the fact that the shepherds did not just take the angels’ word, but decided to check it out for themselves (verse 15). The result was that they praised God because everything was “just as they had been told” (verse 20).

This was not blind faith, this was tested faith. Proven faith, where the shepherds’ actions yielded an experience of praise. That’s the kind of faith I want—faith that acts on its belief. We need to do something with what we believe if we want the belief to make any difference. We can’t be spectators in life. Ways of participating may be varied, but participate we must. When we hear the good news, we need to go and see for ourselves if this thing called Christianity, this person called the Christ, is real.
 

As I stood in Bethlehem, behind me was chaos and fear; in front of me was good news of an abundant life in Christ. Which way was I going to turn? What was I going to look for? I left the protest behind me, because I wanted to demonstrate to God that the life in front of me was worth more than the trouble around me. I went to check out Christ for myself, realizing that moving into life is nothing to be afraid of—it’s good news that is being brought.

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. “God Is Faithful” is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.