No Room

One of the things that grips me every time I read the account of Jesus's birth is that there was no room in the inn. Everything about it just seems wrong. I know that each moment was ordained by God...but it's hard to fathom that there was not a private place for the arrival of Jesus...the One who owns it all. Shouldn't they have realized who was about to be born? Shouldn't they have done whatever it took to provide a bedroom for the arrival of the Savior of the world? Yet, there was no room.

But as I pondered this...I came face to face with the reality that, we too, are often no different than the inn keeper that night long ago. We often live with a sign over our soul that says "no room". We go days without digging into His Words of life, days without clinging to Him and crying out to Him both in need and in adoration. We are no different than the inn keeper. If anything, we are the ones in need of repenting...for we KNOW who Jesus is....yet our "no" is lit up like a neon sign flickering over our dry heart.

The busyness of this month can crowd out the primacy and reality of the very reason we celebrate...the birthday of our King! May we not lose sight. May we remember by daily "preparing Him room" in our hearts, our thoughts, our words and our actions. May we be nothing like the inn keeper and everything like John the Baptist:

"He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him." John 1:7