Making Room For Jesus

The world has always marveled at the paradox of the Creator of this universe being born in a lowly manger. But instead of condemning the inn keeper for saying, "There is no room in my inn," perhaps we should remember that he did show compassion for the tired travelers. After all, he was asked to entertain royalty unaware on that first Christmas Eve.
But what a great blessing he missed! Perhaps he thought there were many "more important" people in his inn. The worldly elite and VIPS would all soon be gone and forgotten. But the busy inn keeper had turned away the Eternal God of the universe. Opportunity passed him by. Instead of being remembered as the man who seized his moment in history, he became just another footnote to the folly of leaving the Lord out of one's life.
But does our world respond any differently today? In the mindless milling of the masses and the maddening crowd in the market places of our world, how many pause to consider the place of prominence Jesus should have in the observance of His birthday? In the frantic rushing, pushing and shoving that characterizes the season, who will pause to peruse the priority He should have in the affairs of men? Does the world have any more room for Jesus today than did the lowly innkeeper of long ago?
Thousands of invitations and gospel messages have gone out this Christmas Season. We have joined our voices to the great chorus of Christians who will literally beg and implore millions to make room in their heart for Jesus the Savior of the world. But sadly, millions will still say, "We have no room for Him! " Perhaps there has never been a time when people are more powerfully proclaiming by word and deed that they have no room for Jesus in the affairs of family, community or culture.
But Christmas without Christ is like an engine without fuel. This birthday without the only begotten is like a banquet without bread. This holiday without the high and holy is like the heavens without stars. This celebration without spiritual elaboration upon the God of salvation is like an ocean without water. This season without the reason is like a garden without flowers. Without the Christ of Christmas people at best only exist.
Is there room in your heart for the Christ of Christmas? He will only come into the hearts and lives of those who invite Him. Those who really make room for Jesus this Christmas are those who receive the Christ of Christmas into their hearts and homes the whole year through - and eternally. The Bible says, "But as many as receive Him, to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, even to those who believe on His Name. "

I Like Christmas

Christmas is always a very exciting time of the year. I like Christmas. I like the songs and carols that fill the air. I like the hustle and bustle of the crowds as they jostle through the busy shopping malls, looking for that special gift for that very special one in their life. I like the excitement and anticipation of it all. The expressions of good will that many seem inclined to share. The smiles and the sincerity of those who say: “Have a good Christmas” I like to reply in kind. I guess the season tends to bring out the child in many of us. Some of us have never completely outgrown our childhood love for the days of Christmas.

But more than anything else, I like the true meaning and message of Christmas. A message so simply and succinctly expressed by the angels who heralded the birth of the God-man who would forever change the course of history. The One who would truly make history - “His story.”

I like Christmas because it reminds us that His birth was announced as: “Good news to all people.” The good news of Immanuel. God with us. Our world is filled with those who feel lonely and unloved. Einstein once said, “It’s strange to be known so universally and yet be so personally lonely.”  The message of Christmas is that God sent His Son to earth to embrace each of us with His love.   Augustine placed it so beautifully when he said, “He loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us.”

I like Christmas because it is much more than tinsel, ribbons, presents and parties or a hectic rushing to and fro; giving and getting temporal gifts that will have no real value in eternity. Christmas is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to give us the greatest of all gifts, eternal life and a home in heaven with Him. Christmas reminds us once again of this greatest gift of all: God giving His Son, His Son giving Himself, that we might be able to exclaim once more with the apostle Paul, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!”.

God Became Flesh

John 1:1-14, Isaiah 7:14

Our study of the Biblical account of the birth of our Savior should not be seasonal. Our thankfulness for His unspeakable gift should permeate our life throughout the entire year. We should live our entire life in the light of the glorious truths that normally only momentarily illuminate a few days of the Christian calendar each year. The story of the incarnation of God into the flesh of man is a vital foundation stone of the very gospel of Jesus Christ and should undergird our faith year round.

Two great philosophers who pre-date the birth of Jesus had this to say about the necessity of the incarnation, "God will never be known unless He reveals Himself in human form." "Oh, that someone would arise, man or god, to show us God." (Socrates) You do not have to be an intellectual to recognize the logic of the philosophers' argument. The proof is always in the pudding. The ultimate illustration is in the reality.

When God chose to become man He put paid to the long awaited proposition prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. The concept that Isaiah posited when he said, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name, Immanuel (God with us)"

When God chose to come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to flesh out His eternal purpose of redemption for those who would be eternal sons of God, He not only personified an absolute selfless love, but He demonstrated the ultimate in communicating such love to those who were to be the objects of it. Can you imagine the infinite God of a limitless universe, condescending to imprison His infinite being in the finite flesh of man, on a tiny ball of mud, in a far off corner of a very mundane sort of solar system, in a less than spectacular galaxy that man calls the Milky Way?

Why would He do such an unlikely deed? Evidently, in order to say to His rebellious and ungrateful creature, man, "I love you with an infinite love and will make it possible for you to love me with such a love in return! In order to give you the privilege and capacity to do so, I am not only willing to live in your dirty, stinking, sinful and rebellious environment, but to die unjustly at your hands that you might, in turn, mercifully live forever in an environment fit for a Child of the King!"

If Jesus had not been born of the virgin Mary, God incarnate in the flesh, there would be no gospel, salvation, forgiveness or life eternal. We would be yet without Got, without Christ, and eternally lost in a dark and sin cursed earth. Is it any wonder the apostle Paul was moved to exclaim, ''Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (II Cor. 9:15)