And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7
“As the palace, and the forum, and the inn have no room for Christ, and the places of public resort have none, have you room for Christ? “Well,” says one, “I have room for Him, but I am not worthy that He should come to me.” Ah, I did not ask about worthiness! Have you room for Him? “Oh,” says one, “I have an empty void the world can never fill!” Ah, I see you do have room for Him. “Oh, but the room I have in my heart is so base!” So was the manger! “But it is so despicable!” So was the manger a thing to be despised!”
“Ah, but my heart is so foul!” So, perhaps, the manger may have been! “Oh, but I feel it is a place not at all fit for Christ!” Nor was the manger a place fit for Him, and yet there He was laid. “Oh, but I have been such a sinner; I feel as if my heart had been a den of beasts and devils!” Well, the manger had been a place where beasts had fed. Have you room for Him? Never mind what the past has been; He can forget and forgive. It matters not what even the present state may be if you mourn it! If you have but room for Christ, He will come and be your guest…
Here is my royal Master — Have you room for Him? Here is the Son of God made flesh — Have you room for Him? Here is He who can forgive all sin — Have you room for Him? Here is He who can take you up out of the horrible pit of hell, and out of the miry clay — Have you room for Him? Here is He who, when He comes in will never go out again but will abide with you forever to make your heart a heaven of joy and bliss for you — Have you room for Him?
It is all I ask. Your emptiness, your nothingness, your need of feeling, your need of goodness, your need of grace — all these will be but room for Him! Have you room for Him?”
Charles Spurgeon in Joy Upon Joy: An Advent Devotional, evening reading for Day 23 (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 2017).
When Jenni and I were in Australia on the final two days, our discussions with Gary & Debbie Williams and Steve & Kate Kerr orbited a few times around the idea of creating margin in our lives for that which is best. Then the Lord sweetly led me to yesterday’s devotional about fasting during Advent. As we have arrived home, I am reminded that margin and fasting are aspects of the same idea which is making room for Christ. Few articulate this idea better that Spurgeon in today’s post.
Spurgeon tells us not to worry about what we are not but to make room with what we have got. Regardless of where we are at or what our circumstances are, we can be conduits of generosity to the world if we each make room for Christ. There was no room in the inn but if we make room in our hearts, joy upon joy and all heaven might just break loose. Father, show us by your Holy Spirit what each of us should fast from to make room for Jesus this Christmas. Amen.