MESSIAH'S MISFITS
What began as a promotional gimmick, ultimately resulted in the world’s number-two selling Christmas song. In 1939, advertising executive Robert May wrote a poem for a department store sales campaign. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” debuted in a little booklet published that year by the Montgomery Ward chain. More than 2.5 million copies were distributed to children, and by 1946 the total had reached over six million. Rudolph’s story came alive musically when singing cowboy Gene Autry recorded it in 1949. The song’s popularity skyrocketed in 1964 when NBC transformed it into the popular animated television classic.
Today, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” has sold more than twenty-five million copies, second only to “White Christmas” in sales of Christmas songs. The tune has been recorded hundreds of times and is in the top-twenty money earners in the history of the American recording industry.
How do we explain the continued popularity of a fictional, flawed caribou? (Random Christmas fact: caribou and reindeer are the same species). I believe it’s the basic message of grace. The 1964 cartoon depicts Rudolph and his friends as “misfits.” Although a misfit, in the end it was his bright-and-shining defect which enabled Santa to deliver his toys “one foggy Christmas Eve.”
Isn’t that how God loves to operate? To take our flaws and work wonders through them. The Message in 1 Corinthians 4:10 states, “We’re the Messiah’s misfits.” Think about it. When Jesus chose his original followers, he didn’t select the brightest and best. He chose a bunch of misfits.
The same is true in each of our lives. What does God use most in us? Our talents? Sure, sometimes. But our strengths can also become a stumbling block—something we glory in. We think we need to “get it right” before God accepts us. But it’s really our weaknesses that glorify God most. The Lord told Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness,” causing the great apostle to declare, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). In fact, the message of the manger is all about God making himself weak.
Haven’t you found that to be true? Your mistakes become your ministry. Your failures are transformed into freedom. Your tragedies turn into triumphs. So celebrate your weaknesses. Rejoice in your defects. Then watch God use them for his glory. Like Paul… like Rudolph… like me. We really are “the Messiah’s misfits.”
Principle: It is our defects that God often works through.
Promise: When I am weak, then I am strong.
Ponder:
What weaknesses do I have which God might work through?
How can I make myself available for God to use my weaknesses?
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.
Prayer: “Dear Lord, thank you for my weaknesses which glorify you. Instead of being ashamed of them, help me to embrace them.”
Perceptions: Record any ideas God puts on your heart from today’s devotional.