Accommodations

We've all heard the part of the Christmas Story where Joseph is trying to find a place for Mary to give birth, but, because of the census happening in Bethlehem, the town was filled with people, and all the places he could find were already at capacity.

No room at the inns meant a lowly stable would be the spot for our Savior's arrival.

Christmas Eve sermons often discuss this part of the story and connect it to our hearts being like Bethlehem—filled with so much other stuff that there is no room for Jesus.

That is a message I know I need to hear more than just once a year.

But sometimes, it's not just that our hearts and minds are full of other stuff; it’s that we don't believe we have the proper accommodations for Jesus even if we did have room.

We feel unworthy and tell ourselves that Jesus won't love us until we get our acts together.

We think we have to be sin-free and perfect for Jesus to stay with us.

We go to church for our obligatory Christmas visit, compare our sinful selves with all the goodie-goodie active churchgoers (who, by the way, are struggling just like we are), and try to make a beeline for the door as soon as possible for fear lightning might strike the building if we linger too long.

We tell ourselves that we'll be better and do better.

We'll try to clean ourselves to live up to what we think is Jesus' standard of living.

It's like when we have company over. We clean the house like crazy people, wiping off the baseboards and shoving everything into closets we know our guests won't open.

All to show we got it all together, which, of course, we don't.

We want to be pristine and perfect and believe the lies that anything less than perfection is unacceptable in God's eyes.

So we try, fail, and lose hope, telling ourselves that the unkept inn of our hearts is no place for Jesus.

Yet, our soul aches for Him to dwell within us.

We try to fill the empty spaces with other things, but it never works.

That's because Jesus belongs in our hearts and is the only one who can make us whole.

Jesus does not care about the accommodations or the mess we find ourselves in; He's just happy to be welcomed into His beloved's heart.

Jesus spent His life showing us that He came to save the lost, the scared, the forgotten, and the cast out.

Not the perfect ones.

Not the ones that are clean and shiny.

He came to be with us.

Just as we are.

Dirty, dusty, bruised, and battered.

But Jesus doesn't see us like that. He sees us as His beloved children whom He came to love and to save.

Jesus came for us and is knocking at our hearts' doors.  

Open the door, beloved.

Let Jesus in, and let Him love you as you are.

Because He does and He always will.

Luke 2: 6-7

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.

Revelations 3: 19-20

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

1 Timothy 1: 15-16

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.