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Jun 13, 2023 18:30pm

Unconventional

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I’m always intrigued by the stories of one species of animal taking in another. At first glance, you immediately think, there is something that doesn’t belong here. One picture really stood out to me with a tiger and three unusual babies.

Piglets.

3 unsuspecting piglets, nursing on a tiger.

A TIGER, YA’LL!

I would assume the tiger would be thinking, “I can make pork chops grilled, smothered, fried, or even ham or bacon. That pork tenderloin could be marinated and baked…”

But here it was loving on those babies.

Strange.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Luke 2:7

Mary and Joseph have traveled 70 miles on rough terrain to pay their taxes, be counted and head back home. But, Mary was at the end of her pregnancy and it was time. Because of the massive amount of people that had come to be taxed, there was no place for them to stay.

They managed to secure a stable. This is where animals were kept. It was more than likely a spot in a cave. It was dark. There was no floor, only dirt and straw. It was smelly from the animals and I’m certain it wasn’t up to code on its cleaning standards.

Mary wrapped Him in swaddling cloths. Strips of cloth, used to wrap a child or even a person who was deceased and about to be buried.

And she laid Him in a manager. A feeding trough for the animals.

This was the place God had chosen for Jesus to be born. The Messiah. The long-awaited King.

To us, a baby did not belong in that place. It was dark, dirty, and dangerous. It wasn’t fitting for a baby to be born there, much less a King!

But oh how great is the mind and plan of our God. He does things a little unconventional sometimes, don’t you think?

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And where were they to be found? In a world that is dark, dirty, and dangerous. Jesus went where others wouldn’t dare – to the woman at the well in Samaria, to eat with Matthew the tax collector, touching and healing a leper… all of this made the religious leaders angry and many refused to believe He was the Messiah.

Every detail was planned out by God to demonstrate His plan and His love for us. Those strips of cloth pointed to the fact that Jesus came to earth to die for our sins and would one day be wrapped and buried. That feeding trough, the manger, Jesus was the bread of life, the very thing that sustains us and grows us. The location, the strips of cloth He was wrapped in, and the place where He lay His head, all of it planned out by God.

Even you. While you may think you are the most unlikely of characters to be used by God, you are exactly who He is looking for. You may feel like if you step inside that church that you’re going to stick out like piglets being raised by a tiger, but oh my friend, you will be right where you were meant to be. Are you willing to lay down your own desires and pride of what you think your life should look like and surrender to God? He may have some unique and unconventional ways by the standards of the world, but they are perfect!