DAY 26

 ON’RY PEOPLE

When is the last time you heard the word on’ry.  On’ry is a contraction of ornery which is a contraction of ordinary.  It means: ugly and unpleasant in disposition or temper; stubborn; low or vile; inferior, common or ordinary (www.dicionary.com).  The folk Christmas song “I Wonder as I Wander” uses on’ry to describe those who “Jesus the Savior did come for to die.” He came to die “for poor on’ry people like you and like I.”  Would you describe yourself as on’ry?  Most of us might respond, “Well, I am really not all that bad.” But the truth is apart from Jesus Christ we are “poor on’ry people.

In Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul declares,

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.   But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 This was the state of affairs before Christ came into our life.  We were all in desperate need of a Savior and Christ satisfies that need.  Now the state of affairs is different!

In this Advent season, as you wander through all of the trappings of Christmas, stand in wonder that Jesus came “for poor on’ry people like you and I.”

I WONDER AS I WANDER

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor on’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky

While shepherds were watching their flocks one dark night

There came angels singing, a glorious sight

And high in God’s heaven a star shining bright

For the promise of ages was born on that night
When Mary birthed Jesus ’twas in a cow’s stall
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
But high from God’s heaven, a star’s light did fall
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing
Or all of God’s Angels in heaven to sing
He surely could have it, ’cause he was the King

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor on’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky