Prepare Him Room

Christmas is the celebration of the good news that the amazing, all powerful, omniscient God, the creator of the universe chose to come in human likeness so that we may have an abundant eternal life.
Philippians 2:5b-7
..Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Jesus could have chosen to come to earth as a popular rich King but He chose to come in a humble way as an unknown to let us all know that He identifies with all of humanity. There was no room for the King of Kings anywhere that He had to be born in a lowly manger.
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 room for them in the inn.

The life of Jesus even from His birth was one of sorrow - people rejected Him or crowded Him out of their lives.
Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Could it be that even we who have embraced Him sometimes live our lives not esteeming Him who gave up all the joys and comforts of heaven for our sake? There are many things that possibly crowd out Jesus from our hearts and lives and leave Him with little or no room. These things could include busyness, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, disappointment, doubt, self pity, selfishness.. When Jesus is not in the centre of our hearts, we create room for entanglements.

This Christmas, its time to clean up our hearts and lives and prepare Him room! Its time to get rid of all entanglements that draw us away from having Him at the centre and whole of our hearts and minds and lives. When we are entangled and things of this world crowd our heart, we are violating the first and greatest commandment that the Lord gave us.
Matthew 22:36-38
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
The heart is the centre and core of our being and if we honor God with all our heart and mind, then we will have true joy! We can get rid of all entanglements and get Jesus to fill our whole hearts by reading and obeying His word, confessing sin, examining our heart, guarding what we set our affections on and living according to truth rather than feeling.
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

How is your heart this season? Is it crowded with the busyness or worry or doubt or pain or anger.. that Christ is moved to the periphery? An old medieval Christmas poem says "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, if He's not born in you, your heart is still forlorn". Prepare Him room in your heart this season by getting rid of all entanglements and crown Him the King of your whole heart and experience the joy of knowing and living for Him!
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Follow the Star!

No Christmas story is complete without mentioning the three wise men who came from afar bearing gifts to worship the new born King! The three wise men when they came to pay homage to Jesus had to make a lot of decisions - they had to start on a very long journey not really knowing the destination by just following the star, they gave Herod news that they were seeking a new born King by following a star but they also chose not to return to Herod and returned home by another way. We know this decision by the wise men was important. On the highway to decision making, we all have some processes - some decisions are spontaneous, some are intuitive, others are thought through to discern which way to choose. For some decisions, we rely on the wisdom and counsel of others and some decisions are made on what “feels” good. We can look at the story of the wise men and learn on how we should make decisions.

The three wise men were seekers - seeking and worshipping the Son of God was their utmost priority. They probably waited and longed for the Messiah king, studying the heavens for signs and decided to give up the comfort of their homes to set out on an adventurous journey making every effort to seek and worship the One who is worthy of all worship. They were able to seek and worship God because they understood in humility that inspite of their wisdom and riches that in God is the ultimate fulfillment all our seeking and longing.
Matthew 2:1-2, 10-11
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."......When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

The second thing that the three wise men did was to discern what God wanted them to do. Discerning what God wants us to do in life is necessary to make wise decisions and avoid unplesant compromising consequences. Discernment is the ability to think in a Godly manner about all areas of life and is indispensable to an uncompromising life. The wise men were able to discern from their dream not to return to Herod and they did the right thing and avoided any unpleasant consequence.
Matthew 2:12-13
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
Knowing God will enable us to develop the gift of discernment. The wise men clearly knew who Jesus was - bringing Him gifts of gold, incense and myrrh that signified His royalty, His priesthood and His sacrifice.
2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Reflect on the kind of decisions you have made in your life. Have they been wise and Godly? Do you want to make Godly wise decisions? Make it a priority to seek God in humility and to know Him so well so that you can discern God's will. God wants to guide you just like He guided the three wise men to the Messiah child through His star. We just need to seek Him and find His star and follow it!