The Holy One calls me this morning. The Holiday season is in full swing. We are being barraged with gift ideas, stores competing for our limited Christmas budgets and all the guilt that goes with wrong priorities.
Is it just me or does all this whoopee seem to bring more tension than relief? The day that we celebrate as being the most pivotal point in the history of man, next to the day, Christ Jesus resurrected in His Glory, has become such a weight and burden of back-and-forth gift giving that we just want to get past it.
Today the Holy One takes me back to the reason my heart should celebrate. He takes me back to the time when all the angels held their breath as God became man. Holiness wants to flood my mind with His peace, so He has to repair my thoughts. He takes me to His Word and illuminates for me the account of the Wisemen. Today I am to focus on the Magi in the drama that changed the world's understanding of God.
It's hard for us, who have been so blessed with the historic record of their epic journey, to read the few verses that speak of their part in the drama of the time when God wrapped Himself in flesh to walk among us and imagine what it was like for them.
The Magi made their way from a faraway land on the basis of a "prophecy" and a new star in the heavens. They packed up their camels and set out on a journey to find a newborn King. They travelled for a long long time. No planes or taxis for these Wisemen. Not even a map to navigate their way. What must it have been like when the "One" they had been searching for was found?
As I ponder the effort and preparation it must have taken for them to launch such a mission, I am saddened by all the mindless, pointless distractions that get in the way of just a simple celebration of the birth of my King.
I know the Holy One is taking me somewhere in these thoughts about the Wisemen and me.
Matt 2:9
"After they (the Magi) had heard the king (Herod) they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed"
"Overjoyed"! Is this what I feel when I think of the Babe in the manger and what God does to lead us to Him?
It goes on to say, "On coming to the house they saw the Child with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh."
What makes this event so mind blowing to me is that these 3 wealthy Wisemen made their sojourn with no apparent "reward" for themselves like so many of us desire as we seek the King today. This journey seemed to be made for the extreme privilege of finding the "One" the prophecy spoke of and the "One" the star revealed.
All this took place before Jesus manifested even one sign or wonder as God in the flesh. Their worship came strictly on the basis of Who His is, not for one thing He did for them or anyone else.
Thinking about the motivation of the Magi, and the gifts they brought to honor the King, the Holy One calls me to assess my own heart. He asks me, "What are you willing to sacrifice in order to find and know the King? Do you count it a privilege just to have found Him? What are you willing to give Him as you celebrate His birth?
I believe these are questions for all of us to ponder in our heart of hearts. The events of the day when God wrapped Himself in flesh and walked among us are history. What we do to seek and honor Him is a choice we must make in each new day.
The story of the Wisemen is one to be recalled over and over, not just as we celebrate the birth of our King but each day as we seek to find, serve and honor Him in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Is it just me or does all this whoopee seem to bring more tension than relief? The day that we celebrate as being the most pivotal point in the history of man, next to the day, Christ Jesus resurrected in His Glory, has become such a weight and burden of back-and-forth gift giving that we just want to get past it.
Today the Holy One takes me back to the reason my heart should celebrate. He takes me back to the time when all the angels held their breath as God became man. Holiness wants to flood my mind with His peace, so He has to repair my thoughts. He takes me to His Word and illuminates for me the account of the Wisemen. Today I am to focus on the Magi in the drama that changed the world's understanding of God.
It's hard for us, who have been so blessed with the historic record of their epic journey, to read the few verses that speak of their part in the drama of the time when God wrapped Himself in flesh to walk among us and imagine what it was like for them.
The Magi made their way from a faraway land on the basis of a "prophecy" and a new star in the heavens. They packed up their camels and set out on a journey to find a newborn King. They travelled for a long long time. No planes or taxis for these Wisemen. Not even a map to navigate their way. What must it have been like when the "One" they had been searching for was found?
As I ponder the effort and preparation it must have taken for them to launch such a mission, I am saddened by all the mindless, pointless distractions that get in the way of just a simple celebration of the birth of my King.
I know the Holy One is taking me somewhere in these thoughts about the Wisemen and me.
Matt 2:9
"After they (the Magi) had heard the king (Herod) they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed"
"Overjoyed"! Is this what I feel when I think of the Babe in the manger and what God does to lead us to Him?
It goes on to say, "On coming to the house they saw the Child with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh."
What makes this event so mind blowing to me is that these 3 wealthy Wisemen made their sojourn with no apparent "reward" for themselves like so many of us desire as we seek the King today. This journey seemed to be made for the extreme privilege of finding the "One" the prophecy spoke of and the "One" the star revealed.
All this took place before Jesus manifested even one sign or wonder as God in the flesh. Their worship came strictly on the basis of Who His is, not for one thing He did for them or anyone else.
Thinking about the motivation of the Magi, and the gifts they brought to honor the King, the Holy One calls me to assess my own heart. He asks me, "What are you willing to sacrifice in order to find and know the King? Do you count it a privilege just to have found Him? What are you willing to give Him as you celebrate His birth?
I believe these are questions for all of us to ponder in our heart of hearts. The events of the day when God wrapped Himself in flesh and walked among us are history. What we do to seek and honor Him is a choice we must make in each new day.
The story of the Wisemen is one to be recalled over and over, not just as we celebrate the birth of our King but each day as we seek to find, serve and honor Him in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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