FRIDAY'S SERVING OF JOY JUICE: NO ROOM for JOY???

         Have you had your JOY JUICE today or is your heart so full of other things that you can’t find room for the joy of Jesus?

            “NO ROOM!”  That’s what the inn keeper said when Joseph was trying to find a place for he and Mary to stay the night Jesus was born.   When we recall the story of our Savior’s birth, it is sad to hear those words “NO ROOM”. 

            But, how often to do we use those same words when Jesus comes knocking on the door of our heart…our spiritual house?  Do we say, “NO ROOM for those plans; I have my own.”  “NO ROOM for prayer and Bible study; I’m too busy.”  “NO ROOM for forgiveness; that person hurt me too deeply.”

            Rick Warren gives a good analogy that is applicable to this subject of “no room”.  He says: “It's like this: How many people do you know who cannot park a car in their garage? Garages are made for cars.  That's how they are designed.  That's what gives the garage its purpose. But we fill them up with all kinds of other stuff that they were never designed to hold.

The same thing is true in our hearts. Your heart was made to contain God, but when you fill it with worry and stress and guilt, you have no room for God.  Your heart may be crowded with good things, work or sports or hobbies, but they were never designed to take first place in your heart. In fact, you can be serving God and working for God and still miss God. Even good things do not have the power to hold your life together when the heat is on.”

May we begin the process of de-cluttering our life…and making room for what is most important…the JOY of relationship with Jesus!