Luke 2 tells us that an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds and revealed to them that the Messiah, the Lord, had been born in Bethlehem. These shepherds hurried off to see for themselves what had happened, and they found everything just as the angel had told them—baby Jesus was wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Verses 17-18 tell us, “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

It was unusual that God chose shepherds to be the messengers to spread the word to other people about the birth of the Christ child. Shepherds were not highly regarded in the first century. They had the annoying habit of confusing other people’s property for their own. And their word was generally so unreliable that shepherds were forbidden from giving their testimony in a court of law. Yet God chose people from this despised class to spread the good news about Jesus.

That’s just a reminder that God uses flawed people—just like us—to be involved in his perfect plan to save people through Jesus.