1:12). The tender, human, d i y i n e Christ ofttimes stands amongst us un recognized, and from many doors He is still pushed away. What Christ Excludes We might'think of many rooms where He Ts not admitted—the heart " room, the life room, the home room, the business room. And why is this? It (s because His pushing-out power is so tremendous. First of all, He pushes sin out—He expells it from the individual’s life by means of the blood drawn from His Cross; He washes it out; by the soft, intense fire of His love, He burns it out; by the purity of His own presence, recog nized and . obeyed, day by day He , keeps it out so that life becomes a spénding of the' day with the Lord Jesus. Intensely Practical This presence of Christ is something very practical. It is not just the using -d of certain religious phraseology, but it is living in such” a way that Christ will be pleased. He becomes the Host in the heart and brings Hi# own peace and gladness and joy. The Lord Jesus says to us at this Christmastime, i “Where is My guest- chamber?” And what is our answer? Have we no room for the Christ of Bethlehem? Or have we m e r e l y “some” room? Or is it a large upper room furnished with the best that we have? The best is never too good for one’s Sovereign. A little old lady was riding in a pony carriage in Scotland years ago. It was a hot day. She wanted a drink of water and asked it at a humble ' cottage. Rather unwillingly the cot tager took a cracked cup, filled It, and handed it to the lady. When the traveler had passed on, the one who had befriended her asked, “Who was that old lady?” and she was told, “It was Queen Victoria.” That cracked cup is now a prized possession. It rests on a plush cushion in a ease by itself. If the woman i had known who it was who asked her for a drink that day, she would have brought the best she had and handed it to her Sovereign. Let us give to the Christ of Bethle hem the best we have at this Christ mastime—to Him who gaVe to us His best when he left the Father’s home ! and came to be born in a Bethlehem stable for us-
N O ROOM A Babe’s cry broke the stillness of the cold midnight air. ■“They all were looking for a king To fight their foes and raise them li f e high; , Thou earnest a tiny baby thing That made a woman Cry.” Yet in that tiny baby there was God Immanuel, God with us. And “God with us” makes all the difference. The multitude of the heavenly host cried: “ Glory to God in the highest, This was the truth that gripped the heart of a boy who left his home in Scotland and joined the Navy. Two weeks after his enlistment he had a Sunday leave and went into a tiny mission hall where he met Christ and opened his life to Him. Two days later, his ship was torpedoed at mid night and he was tobogganed down into the dark waters of the sea. He. struck out for a raft which was crowded with other men. On the other side of the raft a Roman Catholic brother, cried, “Jesus, Joseph, Mary, help us!” but he seemed to be getting no help. ■^he Holy Spirit said to the boy who had so recently been saved, “Couldn't you ' shout something across the water?” . - And he called out, “It is the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, that cleanseth from all sin,” and kept on repeating those reassuring words until he was exhausted. ‘ Only God knows to how many needy hearts that message became “life indeed” on that tragic night. Finally the young man was picked up by a passing boat and found him self in a shore hospital where there was an orderly sergeant who for weeks had wanted to know the peace of sins forgiven. He saw the boy’s lips move and bent down to receive, as he thought, a dying message; but he heard, in a whisper, “It is the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, that clean seth us from all sin.” That truth was lust what the orderly sergeant needed. and on earth peace.” “The barrier’s down, The chasm’s bridged,. And we have peace.” ?.
FROM THE EDITOR l^he Christmas meditation this month for our enjoyment “Around the K in s’s Table” is prepared by the1 Rev. W . Talbot Hindley, M.A., K.C.H.S., formerly of Cambridge, England. He has recently minis tered with great blessing in the Church of the Open Door, Los An geles, and is on tour through C a n a d a and the Cpited States, largely in the interests of the Inter- Varsity Christian - Fellowship and the Christian Businessmen’s Com mittee.-—LOUIS T. TALBOT. “Peace, perfect peace, fn this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.” “A Very Lowly Door” In a dark underground cave—there are many such in Bethletheih used to this day as stables for the animals, with stone trough cut out of a rock and some wooden slats' in front— there the Lord Jesus was born. It was a very lowly door through which the Son of God entered to be the Saviour of the world. - Picture the litter of unclean hay and stray, big-eyed cattle and goats and hens within easy reach and gaze; the mangy curs of the Oriental vil lage prowling just outside, their jangling cries heard in the chill of the winter night. Such Were the out-, ward circumstaAces of the birth of the Holy Child >in whom was centered all the hopes of mankind- and the wonderful plans - o f heaven. Who could imagine a humbler birthplace? Still Crowded Out And yet the Babe’s pedigree ran without a flaw to the-royal house of Israel’s mightiest king. Christ was pushed out of the Syrian inn, and that crowding-out process continued with, ever-increasing force throughout those thirty-odd years of His life on earth. He was vigorously pushed out of Naz areth until at length (so far as the people’s choice, was concerned) .He wg.s ignominiously and shamefully pushed out of life itself. The “no room” process that began at Bethle- henf was completed at Calvary’ where Divine Love transformed hate’s worst into a symbol of Love’s best. The “no room” process of that Beth lehem lodging house is characteris tic of men’s attitude toward Christ ever since. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” .(John
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