Is your heart a Bethlehem?

    

   “And the angel answered and said to her. ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.’” (Luke 1:35-37)

     This time of year it is always exciting to read the story of Jesus and the ordeal of Joseph and Mary as they were obedient to God as the earthly parents of the Son of God. Oswald chambers does an excellent job, as usual, reminding us just what the advent of Jesus that blessed Christmas day really means for us:

      “Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He came into history from the outside of history; He did not evolve from history.

       Our Lord’s birth was an advent; He did not come from the human race, He came into it from above. Jesus is not the best human being, He is a Being that cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is God Incarnate, not man becoming God, but God coming in human flesh, coming into it from the outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the lowest door. Our Lord entered history by the Virgin Mary.

      Just as our Lord came into human history from the outside, so must He come into us from the outside. Have we allowed our personal human lives to become a ‘Bethlehem’ for the Son of God?...The conception of new birth in the New Testament is of something that enters into us, not of something that sprang out of us.  (Oswald Chambers, The Psychology of Redemption)

    Have you allowed your heart to be a ‘Bethlehem’ for Jesus or have you put up a sign that says: ‘no room in the inn?’ If you have not let Him in, then what better time is there than now? “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) Take the time now to open your heart to Him. You will never regret it!

PRAY:

1.     Oh Lord my God, how I long to know You better and to be Your faithful son or daughter.

2.     Help me today to totally surrender and abandon myself to You that You may guide my steps aright and keep me on the path that You have prepared lovingly for me.

3.     Keep me faithful to spend time with You everyday and especially this Christmas season as we remember Your willingness to leave heaven, to live with us, and to die on a cross for our sins that we who accept You as Lord and Savior might live for you here on earth and with you in heaven for eternity.