Hello and welcome to Van Life Devotions. Here’s an amazing Christmas fact: God chose ordinary people to play a part in His great story.

When God selected a mother for His Son—the One who would become the Saviour of the world—He didn’t go to the fashion boutiques or the tanning salons. He didn’t visit the jewellery stalls displaying diamonds and gold. Instead, He went to an insignificant village called Nazareth and found a young peasant girl named Mary. She didn’t wear designer clothes or have an impressive education. But she was humble, and God chose her to be the mother of His only Son. The angel told her she had found favour with God (Luke 1:28,30).

When Mary gave birth to the King of kings and Lord of lords in Bethlehem, one of the biggest events in human history, the governor of Judah didn’t receive the announcement. The High Priest in Jerusalem wasn’t informed. Caesar and his royal court didn’t hear the news. The palace didn’t hear. The temple didn’t hear. Jerusalem didn’t hear.

Instead, God sent the birth announcement to a group of shepherds. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were terrified—not only because an angel showed up, but because the “glory of the Lord shone around them,” (Luke 2:29) a brilliant light from God’s presence. Shepherds were outcasts in their society. Experiences like this didn’t happen to people like them. Yet heaven lit up for the ordinary, and the arrival of the Saviour was announced to them first.

The fact that God chose the ordinary to play a part in His story shows that He doesn’t build His kingdom through the impressive but through the humble. And here’s another amazing fact: God still delights in using ordinary people who say “yes” to Him.