Happy Birthday Jesus!

Every year I feel like I love Christmas more and more.  I love the songs, the lights, traditions, the food and the movies.  The question I’ve been asking myself is, “Do I like it for all the right reasons?”  It’s a tough question to ask and quite frankly I’m not sure we even want to know the answer let alone have the time to think about it.  Who has time for Jesus? Lights need hung, the tree needs decorated, gifts need bought and then wrapped, house needs cleaned, cookies need made then decorated, eggnog needs made (by the way, I don’t know how anyone can drink that stuff) and meals need planned for family and friends. Sorry Jesus, it’s hard to celebrate your birth while preparing a party for you. Which, by the way it doesn’t appear you were even invited to. This may sound cliché but we ask our loved ones what they want for Christmas, but we don’t ask Jesus what he wants on his birthday?  We are so exceptional at making things about us.  Guess how much the average person spends on Christmas?  It is about $800.  I wonder how many of those things don’t get used after January 31^st?  I think it’s easy to think Jesus’ wish list would be full of stops. Stop cursing, lusting, cheating, embarrassing me and finally, stop sinning altogether.  This would not be his list at all.  His list would say one thing…YOU. He is not waiting for you to arrive or become more righteous.  He wants you as you are. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love and this truth is the foundation of the Christmas story.  God sends his one and only son behind enemy lines to orchestrate the greatest rescue mission in the history of the world.  This baby’s life changed the world forever.  This baby’s life took away every sin of every one.  The question is how much has this baby’s life changed you?  Is there room in your heart for change to occur this Christmas?   Remember that fateful night when Joseph and Mary couldn’t find any rooms and were forced to sleep in a stall? Let’s pray that things are different this year.  Let’s pray that there is more than enough room in our hearts for Jesus to stay.