By: Author Unknown
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn? Luke 2:7.
The reality of this familiar verse is much too big to get our minds around. The people of the earth, whom He conceived and brought into being, did not have room for our Creator, The LORD of heaven and earth. Seeing our fallen and hopeless situation, our depravity, our path in life and ultimate destination in the end, barring His intervention, and being cognizant of all that lay before Him, He chose to come anyway.
What could possibly have prompted the Lord of Glory to undertake such a loathsome mission? This question is answered for us in John, chapter 3, verse 16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
What does it mean that He so loved us? The dictionary defines the word, to a great extent; to such an evident degree. Therefore, we co uld interpret the verse to say, For God loved the world to such a great extent that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Sending His only begotten Son (and our acceptance of Him) is His solution to our plight and our desperate need.
The question then is this: How do we respond to such an incredible gesture of love?
In John 1:10-11 we read: He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. When His mother, who was 9 months pregnant with Him, along with Joseph, went to Bethlehem, no one would make room for them. No one was willing to give up his room for them. No one was willing to sacrifice his comfort or his own provision for them, for the Christ of heaven. And, human nature seems to remain the same throughout the ages.
Some reading this fall into the category of the verse that follows, Yet to all who receive d Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God? John 1:12. I propose that there is more that God desires. Let me explain.
Just as an inn has many rooms, so do our lives. Allegorically speaking, we have received Him into the parlour perhaps, into the entry hall, or even the guest room of our own dwellin? (our life). He is in us, and He will not leave us, but He wants to come into and to be Lord of all the rooms of our dwelling. Do you have room for Him, and have you given Him full access to every room? What about your job, your time, your finances, your thoughts, your entertainment, your relationships, your priorities, your plans, etc.? Do you spend time seeking Him each day? Do you study His Word for yourself in order to learn His will and His ways and His commands, in order to draw near to Him and know Him better? Or, are you content to let Him sit in the guest room, so to speak, to be acknowledged only on Sunday, or any time that you have a special need, while you direct the path of your own life?
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fullest John 10:10. In order to have His life to the fullest He must have all of you.
