By Rev. Mark H. Creech
December 23, 2003

(AgapePress) - I remember my first experience with God. I was just a boy and had just finished watching clips from the evening news. There were stories with graphic pictures about the Vietnam War, riots over civil rights, murders and other crimes.

Afterward, my Dad sent me to bed. Obediently, I crawled under the covers and started thinking about all I had witnessed on television. It dawned upon me that night that our world was a mean place because people didn't love God. I started weeping profusely because I felt sorry for Him. It must be terrible to be so good and kind and no one love you, I thought. That's when I started to pray, saying, "Others might not love you, Lord, but I love you. I love you, Lord! I love you!" I believe that was my first experience of God's Spirit working in my heart.

Indeed, our world is largely a loveless place. How often during Christmas we beautify the manger scene. We glorify the hay and straw, the animals, and the shepherds and wise men gathered round. All the while we seem to forget that the Son of God, God's greatest gift to mankind, was made to lie in a filthy feeding trough for cattle because there was no room for Him in the inn or the hearts of men.

In fact, from the moment of His lowly birth to His burial in a borrowed tomb, there was no room for Jesus. Despite his goodness to men, he was continually rejected. When Herod learned of His birth, the wicked King ordered that all the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, be killed. When Jesus first journeyed into Galilee to the city of Nazareth, His own countrymen rejected Him. When he went to Gadara and cast demons out of a man, the people "besought him to depart from them." Over and again, everywhere Jesus went, every time He preached, in every place He performed wondrous miracles of healing, He was met with severe opposition.

At no time was Jesus more alone and rejected than in those moments before and during the cross. As he poured out His heart in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating as it were great drops of blood, His disciples slept while He suffered all alone. Later, His disciples forsook Him, if only for a little while. Then, of course, there was that moment of ultimate rejection -- that moment of utter loneliness -- the moment He was crucified.

No room for Jesus. What an indictment those words bring!

Nothing has changed; there is still no room for Him. Not only has our Lord been crowded out by today's crass commercialism of Christmas, but He's also been removed from the holiday itself. If you should doubt this, then just ask the first-grade teacher in Sacramento County, California, who says her principal has prohibited teachers from mentioning the word "Christmas" in class. Note the atheistic seasonal display erected in the rotunda of state government in Wisconsin that reads: "At this season of the winter solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." Bear in mind you rarely hear anyone say, "Merry Christmas!" anymore -- most opt for the inoffensive, "Happy Holidays." Consider a recent national survey indicating that just over a tenth of Americans currently believe Jesus is the reason for the season, with almost nine out of ten people saying the holiday has become less religious. There is no room for Jesus.

Despite the fact that Christ is generally rejected, despite the fact that we may close ourselves off from Him, He is still there waiting for us to make room for Him in our lives.

In Revelation 3:20, He says, "Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to Him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

In a recent editorial titled Let's Keep Christmas in the Holidays, author Isabel Lyman writes: "Sincere Christians believe that this Savior -- God's Son -- is still with us 24/7/365. Rain or shine. With the ACLU's blessing or without it .... Truthfully, they know that the name of Christ will be scorned this month, next year, and a hundred years from now. Jesus and his message, after all, have a solid track record of being rejected for 2,000 years. But here's the peculiar part: He who was born in a fetid stable, labored as a humble carpenter, and was nailed to a plain cross continues to attract fiercely loyal disciples .... So go ahead. Make my day. Airbrush Jesus out of the government schools, the town commons, and the public libraries. Keep describing the holiday with earth-crunchy names like 'winter solstice' .... But as a lowly sinner who thinks that Luke and Matthew (and Mark and John) gave the world the good news, I won't feel snubbed. For as long as the Prince of Peace continues to live in people's hearts, there's no power on earth that can ever really steal Christmas."

Oh, what a wonderful time this would be for you to become Christ's disciple -- for you to experience the true joy and meaning of Christmas. Won't you pray, "Oh Lord Christ, others may reject you, others may fail to love you, others may despise you, others may not make room for you, but I will. Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I believe you are the Son of God, God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. I believe you came and died on the cross for me. Be my Savior and Lord."