No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 3

No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 3

"There is room" at the manger for those who feel themselves lonely, forsaken; particularly for the families in which a son had laid down his Me for the nation's defense. How hard the Christmas festivities seem to you when contrasted with the sorrow burdening your heart almost to the breaking! This anniversary of your Saviour's birth has graciously dawned for you, to give you the Heaven-granted assurance that through the Christ Child "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Before this day ends, select some quiet spot and read Luke's story of the Nativity! Read it aloud! Read it prayerfully! It contains only 412 words, and it will take only a few moments. While you read, be fortified by believing that all this is written to show you that the Saviour's promise, "Yet there is room" holds assuredly for you, in the love that knows no limit, the grace that recognizes no bounds.

Often in the history of these last nineteen centuries Christmas has been a time of mighty conversion. Today, when God uses the radio to offer you "His unspeakable Gift" His own incarnate Son, picture the blessings which come with this Gift the washing away of your sins, the salvation of our soul, the defeat of death, the assurance of heaven, the reunion with your loved ones in the realms of celestial glory; all these blessings which Paul lists as "the fruit of the Spirit"; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance!" Then, as the Christ Child appeals for room in your heart, asking, "Where is the guest chamber?" answer with the trusting faith of Martin Luther's Christmas carol:

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,'
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee!

Do not be satisfied with a second-best, shoddy welcome! Years ago in a Scotch village an old lady stepped from a carriage, walked to a workman's cottage, and politely asked fora glass of water. Only reluctantly the housewife agreed, showing her displeasure by bringing the water in a cracked cup. After the visitor had gone, a neighbor ran over to exclaim, "Do you know who that old lady was?" You can imagine her dismay to be told, "She was Queen Victoria!" That cracked cup is still held in high esteem, though it should be a sign of perpetual reproach. Let our welcome to Jesus be genuine, wholehearted, soul-sincere! Earth's Saviour, heaven's King, has come to you! Give Him the best you have, the best you are, and the best you can be by His grace! While we cannot receive Him in the flesh, yet He promises concerning our charities, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Before this holy day is over, resolve to share what God has given you with your poor, suffering, destitute fellow men!

Especially, however, may we, having received Jesus and made room for His redeeming love, bring the message of His grace to others! If you feel that the circle of your influence is too small for your testimony to bless many, remember, His Word never returns void! Church papers tell us of an American missionary who spent last Christmas in jail, imprisoned by the Japanese. The bars and barricades could not restrain his spirit, and on that holiday morning through the prison stillness he whistled "Silent Night," "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," and other carols, until the guard demanded that he stop. Yet the next day one of the prisoners whom he happened to pass braved the wrath of the prison officials by whispering to the missionary, "Thank you for Christmas!" And if your testimony rings clear, wherever you may be, you can strengthen and fortify the faith of others.

Then the trans-Atlantic cable was completed, the first message flashed from continent to continent by the marvel of that invention ended with the angels' chorus at Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" By the greater marvel of the radio, may this same message now speed its way over all natural boundaries of mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, and find room in your heart! From shore to shore let us unite in exulting, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," all through the Christ Child for whom there was no room" at His birth, but through whom, by the rebirth of faith, we find eternal room! God grant every one of you this Christmas blessing! Amen!

~Walter A. Maier~

(The End)