No Detours

“And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” —Luke 2:6–7

 

Are you old enough to remember the lighted “Vacancy” and “No Vacancy” signs outside hotels?  “Vacancy” sure looked good to the tired and weary, but then the room rate had to suit Dad’s budget!  No vacancy for the long awaited Messiah seems puzzling, but that’s exactly how it played out in Bethlehem that night so long ago.  God, Who put the census into the mind of Caesar, doesn’t make room for His Son?  “The question is not what God could do, but what he willed to do.” (John Piper, Good News of Great Joy).  Beginning with His humble birthplace, Jesus modeled what it means to deny Himself and do the will of and glorify His Father in heaven.  This is the cross each Believer must bear to genuinely follow Christ.  Submitted and committed – no detours to Calvary – this is The Christ of the Advent – Come, let us adore Him!