The words “there was no room for them in the inn” remind me of a family trip many years ago. We had been traveling all day, and I was trying to find a motel where we could spend the night. As we drove along the highway, our hopes were dashed time and again by the sight of NO VACANCY signs. As a father, responsible for the well-being of my family, I was frustrated and discouraged.
Then I thought of Mary and Joseph. How much worse it must have been for them when they arrived in Bethlehem and found no rooms available! I can imagine Joseph pleading with the manager of the inn, telling him of Mary’s condition and their desperate need for a place where she could give birth to her child. But “there was no room for them in the inn.” So when Jesus was born, His mother “wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger” (Luke 2:7).
Today, 2,000 years later, millions of people have no room for Jesus. Although they participate enthusiastically in the festivities of the Christmas season, they keep Him out of their lives. The NO VACANCY sign is there.
How about you? Is there room in your life for Christ? What better time than during this season to rededicate your life to Him or to receive Him as your Savior!—Richard De Haan
Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore your load of sin? As He knocks and asks admission, Sinner, will you let Him in? —Whittle
Reflections: Is there room in your heart for Jesus this Christmas? How will you make room for Him?
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If Christ is kept on the outside, something is wrong on the inside.
The registration referred to in Luke 2:1 was a census-taking. The purpose was to count the populations of different regions of the Roman empire to determine, in part, one’s expected taxation. The custom was to return to the city that was your own identifying “ancestral” home and then be counted there. Joseph was of the kingly line of David, and returned to Bethlehem, David’s boyhood home, to be registered. Because all of David’s descendants had come to Bethlehem at the same time to comply with the legal requirement of being registered, all available housing was taken. Joseph and Mary eventually found refuge in a stable.
