{"id":6388,"date":"2023-12-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6388"},"modified":"2023-10-16T20:24:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T01:24:24","slug":"room-for-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6388","title":{"rendered":"Room for Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Those living the abundant life make room for Jesus\u2014especially at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite Christmas cartoons is of two men looking at a humble Mary. She\u2019s pregnant with the Christ child and riding on a donkey being led by Joseph. The caption reads, \u201cJust another couple of homeless people. Try to ignore them.\u201d In a way that sums up how many people view Christ at Christmastime. They go through the Christmas holidays trying to ignore Christ, the very reason for the season. Never realizing that without Christ, there is no Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of Jesus\u2019s birth is not just a story. It really happened. In those days, a decree when out from Caesar that all should be taxed. So everyone went to be taxed to his own city. Joseph and a very pregnant Mary went to Bethlehem. While there Mary gave birth to Jesus \u201c\u2026 and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.\u201d (Luke 2:1-7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not much has changed. Today households worldwide celebrate the birth of Christ but there is no room for Christ in their homes, either. No room in their \u201cinns\u201d for Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years ago I read a Chicken Soup story called Trouble in the Inn. It was about a Christmas pageant performed by some second graders. Ralph was to be the innkeeper. Ralph had been held back a year or so and was big, awkward, slow-moving, and slow- thinking. Ralph wasn\u2019t thrilled about his assignment. He wanted to be a shepherd but he finally agreed to play the part of the innkeeper. Rehearsal went okay and the much-anticipated night of the performance came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Joseph and Mary arrived at the innkeeper\u2019s door, Ralph was reluctant to say his lines but as Joseph kept asking to come in, Ralph rose to the occasion. \u201cLook elsewhere!\u201d he said. \u201cThe inn is full! There is no room for you. Begone!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Mary and Joseph turned to leave, Ralph\u2019s eyes filled with tears. \u201cPlease, don\u2019t go,\u201d he said. Pause. Dead silence. Then Ralph smiled and spoke. \u201cYou can have my room!\u201d That was quite possibly the best Christmas pageant those people ever saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The abundant life makes room for Jesus at Christmastime. When Jesus knocks, the abundant life says, \u201cCome on in. Glad to see ya! You can have my room. Thank you for bringing salvation to us. Help us celebrate your birth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>\u2026I have come that they may have life and that they<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

may have it more abundantly.\u201d ~John 10:10 (KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026 Those living the abundant life make room for Jesus\u2014especially at this time of year. One of my favorite Christmas cartoons is of two men looking at a humble Mary. She\u2019s pregnant with the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6390,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions\/6390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}