Joseph and Mary are arriving in Bethlehem…….Mary very expectant and ready to have a child any day. As everything would have it….they came to Bethlehem because the Roman government forced them to come here to be counted in the census and to pay their taxes (I’m so glad we can pay our online now!)…….it was a long hard journey and when they arrived…..there was no place for them to stay.
It is important to understand that doing God’s will (this was God’s will in their life) often takes us out of our comfort zones. Jesus’ life began in poverty. Later, in His ministry, He would stress to his disciples what it meant to have no place to even lay one’s head….to be homeless (Luke 9:58). When we do God’s will we are not guaranteed comfortable lives. But we are promised that everything, even our discomfort, has meaning in God’s plan.
When we have a relationship with God, indeed, with Jesus……we will be able to discern His will in our lives for it involves listening to His still small voice in our heart and always seeking to do what is right….not necessarily what we think would simply benefit us. When we do these things….we live in God’s will.
My prayer is that as we approach the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus……my prayer is that we recognize that often our path is a tough path but a path in which we have this great helper, Jesus, indeed the Holy Spirit, to guide us to comfort us and to lead us. That path always leads to ultimate fulfillment and an eternity with the Father. All we have to do is follow Jesus and seek to live in His will.
Luke 1:4-5
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Luke 9:58
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
~ By Jan Puterbaugh, Associate pastor
