Making room for Christ

I recently chanced upon Sovereign Grace Music’s advent song, “Prepare Him Room”. One of the verses goes like this: “O our hearts, as busy as Bethlehem / Hear Him knock, don't say there's no room in the inn.”

It reminded me of the pernicious danger of “busyness”, which is sometimes lauded as a virtue in our Singapore society. This is all the more pertinent given the flurry of activities that accompanies the year-end holidays, which can often feel more stressful than blissful.

Today’s article¹ reminds us that in the midst of our busyness and business, stresses and struggles, uncertainties and anxieties, we can always make room for Christ who brings us joyous hope.

Pastor Luwin Wong

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Turning and turning in the widening gyre    The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere    The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst    Are full of passionate intensity. 

~ YB Yeats, The Second Coming These dark and intense words from WB Yeats’ The Second Coming in many ways summarise the feeling as we approach another Christmas. 

It’s been another year of uncertainty, with wars and rumours of wars around the world. Typhoons too have ravaged nations, bringing floods that took lives and livelihoods away. For many individuals and societies, it’s been another year of anxiety, loss, volatility, and suffering in everyday life.

Many of us might be so emotionally, physically, mentally and circumstantially drained that it feels like we’re just slouching towards another Christmas, just as Yeats writes of “slouching towards Bethlehem” later in the same poem.

How do we overcome this feeling? This sense of despair and uncertainty? How do we overcome that this Christmas? 

Well, the answer may well come from one of the most forgotten but important characters in the original Christmas story.

Before Jesus is born, Mary and Joseph seek accommodation at an inn. And the innkeeper says: “Unfortunately, the inn is full. There is no room at the inn.”

There is no room at the inn.

Metaphorically, this speaks volumes for what is before every single one of us this Christmas.

Not just every Christmas but every day, God Himself is reaching out to each of us. He came into the world that first Christmas as a person in order to relate to you and me.

But, again and again, all too often we say to Him: There is no room for you in the inn; there is no room for you in my life. 

When the innkeeper said there was no room at the inn, he was focused on his circumstances — on the physical capacity of his inn. He was too wrapped up in his own stresses and struggles of the day and of the season that he was going through.  What about you? 

This Christmas, as we enjoy the good things there are to enjoy, but sometimes feel like we are slouching and struggling, is there room for Jesus in your life?

Yes, there is always a sense of uncertainty and instability. But in and through the person of Jesus Christ, there is also always the opportunity for joy, cheer and renewal.

Jesus says: “In this world you will have problems. But, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Let’s not make the same mistake that that innkeeper made. Let’s remember that there is always room and always a need for Jesus Christ in our inn and in our hearts. 

Have a blessed and hope- and joy-filled Christmas.

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¹ Max Jeganathan, (2021, December 20). Making room for Christ, Salt&Light https://saltandlight.sg/christmas/advent-week-4-finding-our-inner-peace-2/