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The Manger

by Jerry Ousley  
11/07/2009 / Holidays


When I was a kid Grandma and Grandpa, and later, during my teen years, my father as well, raised a few hogs. There was always a feeding trough. A good part of the time that trough was filled with corn, sometimes shelled corn and sometimes corn still on the cob. Those pigs ate it, cob, husk and all.

But occasionally there would be a bucket of leftovers that was saved during the week. That stuff made my stomach turn. When it was near full I'd normally be the one elected (I suppose because I was the oldest) to take it out to the hogs. I'd pour that bucket full of what was once good, delectable food, into their troughs and the odor would make my stomach roll again. Then those hogs would gather around and nearly fight over that stuff. I'll never understand it, but I certainly liked the pork chops it produced.

The manger in the little stable where Mary and Joseph laid the newborn infant, Jesus was also a feeding trough. But it could not be compared to that of the hogs. It was for goats and cattle and was normally filled with hay. Hay can be prickly but it can also be comfortable. I remember a few times when we would fall into a pile of hay. What fun we had and the softness of it always provided a good place to land. Our Lord didn't have a feather-downed mattress on which to lie and He didn't have a comfortable pillow but knowing His life later I am certain that even as an infant He didn't mind.

It wasn't at all the way most people then, and now, would have imagined the birth of a king would be, especially the birth of the King of kings. He was born away from their home in Nazareth and frankly didn't return until he was a small lad. According to the Bible they spent nearly two years in Bethlehem and later, when Herod found out about His birth and sent soldiers to the tiny town to kill all the male children from two years old and under, Joseph was warned in a dream and they fled to Egypt until the death of Herod. Only then did they return to Nazareth. The point is that He spent all those years in poverty, moving from one place to another with His parents. Again, I'm certain that He didn't mind.

Going back to the manger, it is significant that it was a feeding trough for the livestock. During His ministry, many years later, He said on more than one occasion that He was the bread of life. He encouraged people to "eat His flesh." Of course this wasn't meant literally. But He was saying that devouring His word, believing the gospel, was like feeding on Him. Even as the new born baby lay in the manger He was depicted as the "Bread of Life."

He is still that bread of life. Yet today there is a hunger deep within the soul of man for something more. Nothing seems to satisfy it. No pleasure can last long enough; no experience can fulfill for very long. There is always the need for something more. Men and women have searched their lives to find something that will fill up the empty pit and they can never quite lay their finger on what they need.

That is until they come to Jesus Christ. Once they have "eaten" of the Bread of Life then their hunger is satisfied. Their thirst is quenched. He restores the broken line to God and that is what we are all really looking for. Many may deny it. Some may laugh and scoff, but deep down, whether they even realize it or not, Jesus Christ is who they long for. He alone can reunite man to God. Him and Him only.

He lay in the manger to feed the world. His body was broken on Calvary to satisfy the spiritual hunger of us all. This Christmas let me invite you to the table He has spread. It is a feast like no other because He is the main course. Believe His word. Accept Him into your life today, and that void will be filled. I promise.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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