Still, no room

Fri Dec 21, 2012

BISHOP SONNY E. WILLIAMS –
PRESIDING BISHOP
PENTECOSTAL ASSEMBLIES OF THE WEST INDIES
St Vincent and the Grenadines District

Have you ever had the experience of arriving at a hotel you were booked in and told “Sorry we cannot find your reservation and we are filled”?

Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus had an even worse experience. The biblical account of the birth of Jesus is simple and to the point. We read, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her first- born, a son. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6-7).{{more}}

Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that a census should be taken of the Roman world. The Romans would register themselves where they lived. However, it was the Jewish custom that each person should go to his ancestral city. Joseph, in keeping with this custom, arrived in Bethlehem with his wife Mary who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

It was while in Bethlehem that Mary gave birth to her first-born son and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Little did the innkeeper know, that he had turned away the world’s most distinguished couple, missing out on the honour of being the place of history’s most important event: the birth of Christ. None of the guests gave up their room for them. They simply didn’t know the significance of that couple and of the night and that baby.

Certainly they were expecting the Messiah to come, but they didn’t expect Him to come that night, to that inn and in that way.

Today, we know so much about Him, yet so many have no time for Him. Many have no use for Him, no room for Him in their hearts and lives. Are the rooms of your heart so preoccupied with too many other things to let Him have the finest place that He deserves? Are we preoccupied with the cares of life? Are we too busy with running a business, making a living and shopping, cleaning and decorating for Christmas, to find some time for Him?

So often at Christmas time, our programmes can be so hectic that we are just too tired to think about Him and to hear Him speak to us. The Christmas still pleads, “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come into Him and will sup with Him and He with me” (Rev. 3:20).

John further explains, “He came unto His own, but His own received him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

This Christmas, remove the “No Vacancy” sign at the innermost part of your heart and make room for Jesus.

The Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies, St Vincent and the Grenadines District, wishes one and all a Blessed and Christ-filled Christmas.