“In those days,” the Christmas story begins, Caesar Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken. So Joseph and Mary went from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the town of His family to register.
Like Joseph we too are called to register and declare that we belong to the family of God. We are his.
It was undoubtedly a tough journey for Mary. If you get uncomfortable riding in the car to your Christmas celebrations, imagine being pregnant and riding on the back of a donkey! As you gather with friends and family, perhaps in a room too small for the number of guests, ponder spending the night in a barn, and giving birth to your child in the presence of barn animals.
Likewise, it was probably tough for Joseph. His betrothed was expecting a child, not his own, but brought about miraculously by God. Imagine the whirlwind of confusion that swept through his mind. And yet, in faith he believed what the angel said. In faith, he protected his bride and their child. In faith, he obeyed.
In faith, they both humbled themselves to accept a dirty manger for the birthplace of their child. Although there was no room in the inn for Jesus at the time of His birth, let’s be sure to make room for Him by unwrapping the gift of Christmas faith. We do this by making room for his Word to speak to and transform our lives. Jesus IS The Word. We can’t experience the real Christmas without making room for the Word, that is Jesus, in our lives.
Like Mary, in faith, let us take quiet time to ponder in our heart this wondrous gift from God, a gift we don’t deserve but desperately need. Like Joseph, let’s have our hearts follow in faith even when things around us don’t make sense. And let our hearts respond with praise to the one who is worthy of all our praise. And may those who follow us say, “In those days, they lived by faith.”
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. 1 John 5:4
