Have you ever felt unworthy of God's presence and of the opportunity to worship God? You're right. You aren't. None of us are.
Now before you go and lose all hope, please understand one thing: Although no one is worthy of God's presence, He invites us anyway and makes us qualified not through our own efforts but through the blood of Christ.
The Bible contains so much hidden truth that can truly shed so much light to our limited understanding. Recently, I have found a gem of revelation in one of the most disregarded characters in the story of Christ's birth found in Luke 2:8-20. It's the story of the shepherds in the field. Verse 8-10 has this to say to us.
"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'"
One thing that we must understand about shepherds in ancient Near East culture is that they were considered outcasts. The job of a shepherd can be likened to professions like being a garbage collector or a janitor. Not that there's anything wrong with these jobs, but they aren't the most lucrative jobs in the eyes of man.
A shepherd in Jesus' time would often be someone exiled by a community and would not be quickly welcomed by a town. Because they worked so often in the wild with sheep, they would smell and look undesirable.
Yet it's amazing how God would choose to show a heavenly host of worshippers and let "the glory of the Lord" shine on shepherds — not on businessmen, not royalty, not even military men. There are very few people in the Bible who were exposed to a host of angels and the glory of God's presence, one of them being Isaiah who also felt unworthy of God's presence.
Truth be told, none of us will ever be fit to enter the presence of God regardless of what class, profession or family background we come from. Because of our sin, we have been disqualified to worship God. But Christ came to earth to become the atonement for all sin so that we may be able to come freely once more into the presence of God.
It doesn't matter who you are, what background you come from or how ugly your life must have been. If God can invite exiles like shepherds to witness the glory of the Lord, He can welcome you, too.
Our access to God's glory comes not because of who we are, but because of who Christ is and what He has done. His blood is our access to the beautiful presence of God. Because of that we can confidently come and give our praises and experience the overflowing majesty of our Lord.
