How easy it is to make a judgment before considering all the facts or lack thereof.
Where do we encounter the innkeeper in Scripture?
Nowhere.
Could it be that the innkeeper felt such compassion for the young expectant couple that he offered the only thing he had available?
A stable certainly beat the town square!
It is my opinion that the poor innkeeper has gotten a bum rap!
He is not alone.
Every day judgments are made about individuals and situations based on very little information.
Quite often prejudice or simply our mood governs how we perceive someone.
The people that I generally work with struggle with addiction.
They are the target of much prejudice and misunderstanding.
Often they can come across rough and uncaring and many do not stop to look more closely to see the person of value hidden away.
How many have not made it in recovery because no one seems to see who they really are?
Who are they?
People of immeasurable value in the sight of the Living God.
As we all are.
They many times get a bum rap too!
It isn't just those who are on the fringe of society that are often slighted.
My back has not been happy today. On top of that I am fighting a cold.
Not good timing!
It is a very busy week.
Tomorrow we hold a Christmas dinner for my rehab friends and I am in charge.
I had to go out before cleaning up after dinner for an appointment to help my back.
This meant I left my honey in charge.
Upon returning home I found that much had been left undone.
My husband was off with a friend so I spent a little time brooding as I finished the clean up.
My physical condition clouded my thinking and when Ray arrived home I was not my usual welcoming self.
He asked what was wrong and I told him.
As his face fell, so did my heart.
Oh grumpy girl! The man's vision is very much impaired, but I did not take that into account. I just wanted to feel sorry for myself and I needed a scapegoat.
He got a bum rap!
How grateful I am that there is One who knows all the details and loves each one of us anyway!
From the time I was a child I heard the story of Joseph and his pregnant wife, Mary's journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth and how upon their arrival there, they were told that there was no room for them in the inn.
Songs have been written about this one little detail.
The innkeeper was always depicted as a heartless, cold, selfish man.
The scene is always drawn the color of rejection and often a slammed door.
This aspect of the story was so familiar to me that whenever I read the story in Scripture it actually seem to read that way.
The truth is that it doesn't read that way at all.
Luke Chapter two, verse Seven tells us,
"And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."There was no room in the inn. Period.
Where do we encounter the innkeeper in Scripture?
Nowhere.
Could it be that the innkeeper felt such compassion for the young expectant couple that he offered the only thing he had available?
A stable certainly beat the town square!
It is my opinion that the poor innkeeper has gotten a bum rap!
He is not alone.
Every day judgments are made about individuals and situations based on very little information.
Quite often prejudice or simply our mood governs how we perceive someone.
The people that I generally work with struggle with addiction.
They are the target of much prejudice and misunderstanding.
Often they can come across rough and uncaring and many do not stop to look more closely to see the person of value hidden away.
How many have not made it in recovery because no one seems to see who they really are?
Who are they?
People of immeasurable value in the sight of the Living God.
As we all are.
They many times get a bum rap too!
It isn't just those who are on the fringe of society that are often slighted.
My back has not been happy today. On top of that I am fighting a cold.
Not good timing!
It is a very busy week.
Tomorrow we hold a Christmas dinner for my rehab friends and I am in charge.
I had to go out before cleaning up after dinner for an appointment to help my back.
This meant I left my honey in charge.
Upon returning home I found that much had been left undone.
My husband was off with a friend so I spent a little time brooding as I finished the clean up.
My physical condition clouded my thinking and when Ray arrived home I was not my usual welcoming self.
He asked what was wrong and I told him.
As his face fell, so did my heart.
Oh grumpy girl! The man's vision is very much impaired, but I did not take that into account. I just wanted to feel sorry for myself and I needed a scapegoat.
He got a bum rap!
How grateful I am that there is One who knows all the details and loves each one of us anyway!
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