TUESDAY December 24, 2024

Christmas Eve

…there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7

Once again, let us reflect on this one particular detail in the Christmas story, that although exhausted by the journey into Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary found no room for them in the inn. Instead, comfort and rest were found in a stable where the animals were kept.

Many sermons have been taught on this one verse. Often people are asked the question, “Do you have room for Christ?” It is true that the hearts of some people are full of worldly cares and worries. Other hearts are full of temporal joys and the things that this world can offer them.

In every heart there is an empty room. It cannot be filled with anything else but Christ, because there is nothing else in this life that can completely satisfy us. Although an abstract illustration, Robert B. Munger helps us grasp this understanding in a small book he entitled, My Heart Christ’s Home. This is his opening message:

One evening I invited Jesus into my heart. What an entrance He made! It was not a spectacular emotional thing, but very real. Something happened at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire on the hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been silence. He filled the emptiness with His own, loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ, and I never will.

I do not know what you are keeping in your heart these days. There may be rooms for sin and clutter, but I pray there would be a room prepared in your heart for Jesus Christ this Christmas. Believe in Him, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:17). You will never regret the day you made room in your heart for Jesus.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
~Isacc Watts~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!