The Bethlehem of the Heart
’ Until Christ be formed in you.” — Galatians iv. 19.
The formation of Christ in the heart is the birth of Christ in the soul. Paul says that Bethlehem is repeated in each Christian life. Christ begins in the heart as He began in the world — as a child, as an undeveloped form. Very like the birth at Bethlehem is the birth in the soul. There comes into the life a thing as yet inarticulate, and with no language but a cry. It comes into the midst of adverse influences. It does not wait till the ground is clear, wait till the man is reformed. No; it enters the house while it is still only a manger. It lies down beside the original tenants — the beasts of the stall. It is born while yet Herod is king. Herod is ever at war with its birth, would fain kill it. The infant Christ within me is opposed by the full-grown selfishness within me; they are contrary, yet they live awhile in my heart together. Small as the infant Jesus is, it troubles the full-grown king. That little thing I call my conscience makes a complete coward of the Herod within me. It has a still small voice and Herod has a very loud one; yet it is Herod that trembles, not Jesus. The most hopeful thing about the old king is just his fear of the infant Jesus. There must be a flaw in his selfish armour when he is afraid of a tiny babe. That infant is, outwardly speaking, the most impotent thing in the kingdom; yet Herod fears it more than all the legions. He says, “If only this child would die I should have peace!”
So thou wouldst, my selfish heart; therefore He will not die. This child of troubling voice is a Christmas gift to thee. The first gift from thy Father is a present of pain. I have read that an angel came down to trouble the waters; the infant Christ is that angel. He seems a powerless life amid the beasts of the stall. But there are strange songs around Him prophetic of coming glory, strange gifts beside him predictive of future riches.
It is by the songs, it is by the gifts, I know that Christ is born in thee. Thy songs are above thine environment; thy gifts received are beyond thy position. Why is it that after the work of a selfish day there come to thee as to Jacob voices through the casement window — voices whose burden is the message, “Glory to God in the Highest “? Why is it that there come to thee aspirings after the good, cravings for something white, longings for something pure; how could such gold and frankincense and myrrh get into thy manger? Why is it that when seeking only money there glitters a star before thee — a star which fills thy sky and will not be extinguished? It is because a new presence has dawned within thee; Jesus is born in Bethlehem.