“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:12

If Jesus had been born in the palace He deserved, we would struggle to relate. If He had been wrapped in fine silk and placed in a bedazzled crib, wouldn’t we see Him entirely differently? Compared to the riches of a palace king, our deficiency would scream loud, and we would be far too intimidated to stand in His presence. But our sweet Lord was born in a stable—a poor, inadequate, seriously unsatisfactory stable. It was thick with animals, their waste, and oppressive air. The floor was agonizingly hard and covered with dusty hay, and it was certainly not in any way adequate for giving birth. 

But perhaps that stable is where our hearts need to sit awhile. Maybe we need to transport our souls to that roughly carved stone floor and breathe the heavy air, before we can truly grasp the magnificent gift of our Lord’s miraculous birth. Perhaps we need to sit with Mary in her purity and youth, and her fear of childbirth and societal rejection, before we can take hold of her Son, our King. Maybe we need to sit with Joseph and his damaged reputation and uncertain future, as his outcast wife and her “illegitimate” child press hard on his plans and his dreams, before we can embrace the magnitude of his burden. Before we can celebrate their heroism and the beautiful model of their faith, we need to close our eyes and our hearts to all that this world tells us to think and feel and believe. Only when we shut out all the noise and the shoulds and the lies can we wrap our hearts around the Truth that was born in that stable. Because that stable is more like our hearts and our lives than any glorious castle of wealth and prestige in history. Poor. Inadequate. Deficient. Unsatisfactory. Filthy. Oppressive. Hard. Intolerable. Rough. Foul. Our hearts are actually much like Mary and Joseph’s hearts. Although they were fearful and rejected when they entered that stable, they were faithful and loved God, and they left that stable as heroes with our King in their arms.

Jesus, your Lord, was born in a stable. And Jesus, your Lord, is perfectly at home in your heart. A heart that was once damaged and dirty and inadequate and hard, is now glorious in the eyes of heaven. No matter how stained by sin, your heart is now as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Even if it was once fearful and rejected, you now hold the King in your heart! Therefore, it is beautiful, it is pure, and it may as well be bedazzled with jewels—because your heart is absolutely fit for your King!! You are loved!