COME ON IN...BY JONI EARECKSON TADA

“Come On In!”

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:11

One of my favorite moments during the holidays is when the tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, the fire is crackling, music fills the house, and—ta-daaa—you throw open the front door and exclaim to your friends, “Come on in! Now the celebration can start!” Suddenly the place comes alive. Welcoming in friends through the front door is pure joy. And it’s joy because it’s shared. Christmas joy is always welcomed with a “Come on in!”

That’s the beauty of it. It’s appropriate that the Lord Jesus entered the inside of history from the outside. Joy came through a door when he crossed the threshold of this world. Oh sure, the world had all the “trimmings” of religion, the right props and all the tinsel, but it was only when Jesus stepped out of eternity into time that our world experienced genuine joy… perhaps for the first time. Oswald Chambers wrote, “The Lord… is God incarnate, God coming in to human flesh, coming into it from the outside. Our Lord’s birth was an advent, a coming in. And… so he must come into me from the outside, as well.”

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So there you are, all dressed up in your Christmas best, waiting to share it with someone special. Well, the room will stay empty (no matter how many people walk through your door) and a little lonely until you invite the Lord of Joy inside. It only happens when he is born in you, a “coming into” much like swinging open the front door to welcome a wonderful guest. Jesus stands outside the door of your holiday season. Don’t miss out on the best part of Christmas. Open up and welcome him in.

Lord, as I open my heart to you, I have to admit… the “house” is not in perfect order. In fact, there is much in disarray. Come in and set things right, Jesus. Come in, come to stay, and fill every corner with your radiant presence.

Spurgeon on the Birth of Christ....

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.--Isaiah 7:14 


Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance his miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. 


The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the woman," not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to his human nature the Holy One of God. 


Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that he may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note his humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how the accommodation afforded to the new-born King! Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.