No Room in the Inn…or No Room
For Him?
"So
it was that while they were there, the days were
completed for her to be delivered. And she brought
forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in
swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the
inn."
Luke 2:6-7
At the time of Jesus’ birth
the very first census was being conducted, thus
requiring people to go to their city of origin.
Joseph and Mary were traveling from Nazareth to
Bethlehem, and it was during that trip that Jesus
made His entrance into the world.
There was no need to make a
reservation for they did not have hotels or motels
back then. There were no hospitals with elaborate
birthing rooms, and apparently, a lowly stable
that was more like damp and dingy cave was the
only place that there was any room for Him.
Have you ever wondered about
that? The Son of God, King of The Jews, The
Messiah, The Christ Child came to this earth, and
God did not even arrange for a room for Him in one of
the local inns. What a way to treat your only son!
He was of the noblest of origin, yet he was born
in a stinky stable-like environment, sleeping in a
feeding trough because God apparently had not made
Him a room reservation.
Would it have made any
difference if Joseph had pleaded with the owner of
the establishment about the condition of his wife
and the coming of this King? I do not think so.
What if Mary had told the owner that she was about
to bring the Son of God into this world? I doubt
that would have mattered. They could see that she
was in a delicate condition and needed a place
that was warm and clean to give birth, but still
there was no room.
Why is that? God could have
snapped His fingers and cleared that inn but the
reality of it all was that there was not only no
vacancy at the inn, there was really no room for
Him. They had no time or interest in setting up a
birthing place for The King. Even if they had a
place available, there was still no room for Him.
The Jews were looking for a
royal king, not some little baby born of a virgin.
They did not have any room in their heads or their
hearts for this kind of King. A handful of people
saw the star, heard the voices of angels, and came
that night to welcome Him into this world. They
were the exception, rather than the norm…they
had room for Him. Maybe not room in a physical
sense, but they had room in their hearts for this
blessed event. They took the angelic hosts at
their word and simply opened the door of their
heart to let their Messiah—the King of All Kings—enter
in.
We often feel that if we were
the keeper of the inn that surely we would
have let Mary and Joseph in! We would have
squeezed them in somewhere, even if it meant
putting someone else out. Never would we have
allowed Jesus to be rejected when we had the
opportunity to let Him be born in our place! We
give the innkeeper a bad rap and are certain we
would have acted very differently.
Yet when we examine our hearts,
we are guilty of doing the same thing more often
then we realize. Unlike the innkeeper, we have a
room that is vacant—there is room in the inn.
But Jesus stands outside knocking at the door,
because there is really no room for Him.
We make room for what is
important to us…friends, family, jobs, church,
sports…etc. We are certain that we have left
time and space for Jesus in our hearts and lives.
Dare we make the same mistake as happened way back
when? The truth of the matter is that we have room
for everything and everyone else, but no place in
our heart…no room for Him.
You see, He requires little—but
for us it seems to be a lot. He is looking
for a place where He can dwell all alone with no
one else, and nothing else but Him; a place
that is swept clean of sin and selfishness, a
space that is set apart for Him not only to visit,
but also to come and live in.
We say that we have all of these
things, yet the question that comes to mind is why
then in Revelation 3:20 is Jesus standing outside
knocking on the Door of the Church asking to come
in? It is because they had vacancies in their
hearts, but no room for Him.
Sadly enough, that is the
condition of some of the churches of our day. Jesus
comes knocking day in and day out, and we very
casually send Him away. There is much talk going
on about putting "CHRIST" back into Christmas.
Isn't about time that we make "a
room for Him" in our hearts every day?
Let's begin with today!
Prayer:
Precious
Father there are so many things that we do not
understand. Yet I believe You do each thing for a
purpose and by Your Spirit You help us to understand
things that we would otherwise miss.
I know
that all that is written in Your Word is true and that
if we do not examine our hearts and lives then we will
find ourselves hearing You calling not from within our
hearts but from outside as You knock and ask for us to
let You in.
Deliver
us from the error of our ways and from thinking we
have it all together when we do not. Help us to see
the condition of our lives and heart and to do
something about it starting now.
We
have vacancies in our lives that can only be filled by
You so please help us to open the door of our hearts
having made room for You. Come in to our hearts Lord
Jesus...there is room in our hearts for You.
In
Jesus' Name!
Amen!
