Should I Go or Should I Stay?… Greetings weekend readers. We’re 7 days from Christmas and I’m sure we’re all working on decorations, gifts, etc, or perhaps you are one of those “early birds” like my mom who shops almost all year for fun gifts—then she’s done and can enjoy the season. Wish I could be more like her, much less stressful. I noticed the “up-take” on TV commercials. It seems they are now much louder getting the “deals” one must have for gifts. Maybe it’s just my take on it but every time one comes on I grab the remote to silence it. Last night, however, a song came on in a perfume commercial! One that I hadn’t heard for a while and now I can’t get the darn thing out of my head.

Back in the early 80’s a band called The Clash (a UK punk band) had a big hit that used the words, “baby, should I go or should I stay…” The band didn’t last long but this hard-rock hit is still popular today. This morning it was still running through my head even while I was reading a Christmas devotion—and that’s where my crazy mind was “caught!”—causing me to ask myself “what if the shepherds decided to NOT come to the manger?” (Sorry, this kind of thing happens to me often.)

But it is a valid question. After all, shepherds were not welcome in those times because they were mostly uneducated men who rarely bathed; and let’s face it, they lived with sheep and the consensus on sheep manure is “one of the most fowl of animals.” (Sorry if you are eating your breakfast right now.) On top of smell, they were known to be rowdy and rude. Suffice it to say, most towns preferred they stay out in the fields permanently. Yet, they had much to do with Jesus’ birth. Dr. Luke wrote in his gospel, chapter 2:10-11 from the NLT:
“When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds
said to each other, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem!
Let’s see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about’.”

And that is exactly what they did! They made that choice-also written by Luke in 2:12: “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened…” They were not worried about the fact that most folks didn’t care for them. They didn’t stop and think “I have no nice clothes just in case this is the Messiah.” They didn’t consider taking a bath, in fact they didn’t contemplate “hmmm, should we go or should we stay”. Instead, they didn’t do anything but STOP what they were doing and run to a stable in Bethlehem!

How about you and me? A lot of times we miss out on what God wants to do in our lives because we don’t respond. We hesitate for all kinds of reasons. Here’s a few:

  • I just don’t have the time
  • That’s not my talent, no-can-do
  • Not my thing, I’d rather [fill in your own words]
  • Please, not another boring Children’s Christmas program
  • This cruise is a chance of a life-time, Jesus understands how important this is for me

It’s easy to make up excuses, isn’t it? Have you ever decided to not do something and then regretted it later? I know I have, and many of the times I lost an opportunity to share my faith, to let people know there is hope amidst this messy world we live in. Imagine what would have happened if the shepherds chose to respond to the angels saying: “we’ll stay, we’re tired of being laughed at and looked down-upon, tell someone else to go.”

Right now, people are hurting in unbelievable ways. Who cannot think of the devastation caused by those tornadoes? One family of 11 people which included twin baby girls—poof- gone! I don’t know them but my heart aches for them and those communities who have been left with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Will I go – will you go? Maybe you cannot go in the sense of driving out there, but you can go to Go Fund Me, Salvation Army, Red Cross, etc., and send some money to help the needs. You can go to your prayer closet and take time out of your day to pray for these people and so many others. You can go—you can do—you can make a difference in lives by giving them the HOPE of Jesus. Or…

You can stay—stay in your shopping mode which often is more for yourself than others—and that’s an actual statistic. Polls show that most folks at Christmas buy more for themselves than for others-yikes what gives here? Simple, it is selfishness, that “all-about-me” entitlement attitude that has gripped our society from every creed, race, faith and financial status. Me-go? I don’t know those folks, let someone else do it.

While on a vacation in Colorado, Al and I encountered a shepherd with a sheep herd around 200 or so. He was herding them down the side of a steep mountain in the Lizard Head Pass area. We watched them “go” at his command, and then “stay” until he caught up with them to make sure there was no danger on the next ‘go’—it was fascinating. They trusted their shepherd with all they had and one could see the palpable love and care of the shepherd for his sheep. They didn’t care if he smelled like them or any other bad attributes, they moved on “go” because they loved him and trusted him completely for their lives. Is this not a picture of Jesus—our Great Shepherd in whom we trust and love—who cares for us in ways we could never fathom?

I hope this Christmas and all through the year, when we hear the call to help, to love, to be a “Jesus-with-skin-on” we don’t dawdle thinking, “should I go or should I stay.” Instead, we must let the Good News of the gospel that God has planted in our hearts energize us into immediate action where our response will be a shout of joy saying, “Here I am Lord, I will GO!”