AT THE TIME OF HIS BIRTH

At the time of the Lord’s birth, there was no room at the inn for the Lord to be delivered.
At the time of His birth, people did not understand that Christ was about to be born into the world.
At the time of His birth, no hospital was alerted.
At the time of His birth, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
It is written, “So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7) Jesus, the King of kings, was born in a manger.
The Eternal Shepherd of all shepherds could have declared the inn to be open-up for His arrival while He was still in the womb. He came silently and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. The inn was filled up when Joseph and Mary got to the inn. The inn which matters to Him is our inn. It does not matter the kind of gift that occupies your inn waiting to be delivered. If you do not have a place for Him in your inn it becomes a meaning less gift. He spoke in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus came to have a place in our inn so that we can overcome and be granted a seat with Him on His throne. To deny Him access into our inn is the evidence of having been filled with self. Jesus is knocking at the door of your inn. Will you grant Him full access and engage the privileges of having Jesus in your inn?
When the knock came at the door of the inn, the imminent birth of the Lord was met with a lock-out. Many are filled with things that will deprive them of eternal happiness when the trumpet sounds. Some are filled with desires that will not bring salvation. The opportunity for the inn to become the most well-known inn in all of creation came knocking but it was too full to be used for the Lord’s birth. What are you filled with? It is about time for you to prepare your inn for His coming back. Send off lying, deception and manipulation which will keep Him from coming to your inn and create room for Him. He is coming back again so be ready for Him.
His coming as a gift from God is the reason for hope. His coming as a gift is the reason for joy. The gift of God to man is unconditional love. Jesus is a sacrificial gift which God sent so we do not miss eternal life. In return for His love, we are to love Him just as He loves us. The kind of love He wants from us is identified in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A young lawyer approached Jesus asking what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what was written in the law and he responded, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) The lawyer prompted Jesus to tell the parable when he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) Jesus identified who his neighbor is in the parable. A certain man that fell in the hands of thieves lost everything to thieves and was left helplessly wounded. A priest and a Levite who were supposed to know better about compassion crossed over to other side of the wounded man but a certain Samaritan (a supposedly unbeliever) showed compassion where the religious leaders did not. Jesus answered the lawyer’s question of what needs to be done not to miss eternal life by asking the lawyer to go and do just as the Good Samaritan did.
The Good Samaritan is a measure of the gift we should be giving back to God who gave us the best gift in His begotten Son. A yearly glamorous celebration of the gift of God to us is far from enough as a measure of our giving back to God if loving our neighbor is out of place in how we live life.
1 John 4:7-11 admonishes us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
The picture of loving others is clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan: Loving our neighbor perfects loving God. Celebrate Jesus, the gift of God, by giving yourself to living life in having compassion for all your neighbors.