As we journey through each day of the Advent season, we’ve gathered special stories from Lifeline families, staff, and friends to share with you, testifying to how the hand of the Lord and the Character of Christ have been magnified through their children and in their families…

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

To see the Gospel at Christmas is to realize the rightful King of the World stooped down to become a lowly babe. Jesus came in meekness. Before we believe that meek is weak, powerless or feeble, let us be reminded that the true definition is strength under control.  Jesus was wild, daring and strong, but tamed by the mission of His Father.

Jesus came to a humble town (small among towns in Judah) on an ordinary and non-descript night in order to transform a world marked by sin and death into a world that could be redeemed.

He could have come to this world as a full-grown man. He could have come in splendor at Passover or another prescribed feast or festival. Instead, Jesus comes very meekly and then throughout His earthly ministry, He calls out for the meek to follow Him.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 

We were born into a life of sin, self-gratification, self-exaltation, and self-idolatry. This Christmas Day, the Gospel cries out for meek followers to humble themselves, realize their condition of sin, and trust no longer in themselves but in the hope of the nations: Jesus the Christ, our Immanuel.

Zephaniah 3:9 reads,

“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.” Then in verse 11, “But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD.”

The preaching of the Gospel teaches men to use language of humility, repentance, and faith. God’s grace shuts out boasting and leaves men nothing else to glory in but Jesus the King. God will choose for Himself a people who are humble and meek, who seek nothing but the name of Christ and His service.

This, Beloved, is what we celebrate at Christmas. We exalt the humble Savior King who gave up the riches of Heaven for the poverty of a stable. We magnify the One who left the praises of the angels for the yelping of a lamb.

On the first Christmas morn, no dignitaries, officials, or the media visited our King. Rather, meek shepherds first visited Jesus; what a beautiful picture this foretold—advent is for the meek; the Gospel is for the humble.

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Jesus commands His followers to love and care for those who were like the shepherds on that Christmas night—the poor, the needy, the outcast. This is the ministry to which Lifeline has been called.

At Lifeline we strive to be a ministry, which manifests the Gospel to the meek—in the great hope that the Gospel will go forth to all nations and peoples and that Christ will be exalted.

In 1728, Nahum Tate penned a beautiful poem, “While Shepherds Watched.” The first several stanzas proclaim:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around.

“Fear not!” said he, for mighty dread

Had seized their troubled mind;

“Glad tidings of great joy I bring

To you and all mankind.

“To you, in David’s town, this day

Is born of David’s line

A Savior, who is Christ the Lord,

And this shall be the sign:

“The heav’nly Babe you there shall find

To human view displayed,

All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,

And in a manger laid.”

Just as God first reveals the birth of His Son to meek shepherds, He reveals His mission to the hearts of His followers – men and women who are wild, daring and strong, but who are tamed by Immanuel.

Advent is a great time to remember that we are called to manifest the Gospel to the fatherless and to defend them. Will you act to answer the call by partnering with us by becoming a Respond(er) as we take the Gospel to the fatherless? Please visit www.lifelinechild.org/respond today to get engaged with orphan care, foster care, and adoption.

O, Beloved, will you allow the King to use the Gospel of the Advent to impact the life of a child. Please do not hesitate to give Lifeline a call because we are here . . .

. . . to defend the fatherless.