Carols Devotional: “Away In A Manger, Part 1”

“Away in the manger no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.  The stars in the sky looked down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the Hay.”

Philippians 2:1-11

This short verse of this song gives the picture of Jesus’ birth. While this picture is painted poetically, the reality is that our Savior and King was born in a barn among dirty animals and laid in their feeding troth. My savior, the creator of the universe was not born in an ideal place. The Jewish people were anticipating this King, but God had something different in mind. From the beginning, the King of Kings, came and not to live a cushy life on an earthly throne but to minster, serve, and ultimately die a sinners death all to reconcile us to God and to point us to the Father in heaven. The throne that Jesus sits on now does not compare to an earthly throne. His throne is eternal and anointed and he left His throne to show us this crazy radical love. Jesus humbled Himself and came in the likeness of man and served. The part of this scripture that always convicts me is that I am to have the same attitude and same mind as Jesus did. Not only the same actions, but the same attitude. That is not easy. However, Jesus didn’t have it easy on earth and He is God, so how can I expect to. His focus was not to be as comfortable as He could be on here earth but to fulfill the will of the Father. So Jesus, being fully God, had a lowly birth and died a sinner’s death. When I am challenge or life is hard, will we have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, “Not my will, but your will be done.

Erin Howard