Day #357 - Wise Men

The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”” ‭Matthew‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Jonathan Meyer on Unsplash

Have you ever given lavish gifts to someone?

I don’t know if I have ever given a lavish or overly costly gift to anyone other than the wedding ring I bought my wife. But I love to give Grace gifts that have meaning and are things that bring her joy. I love to give her more than she is expecting. I usually stretch or outright break my budget when I shop for her Christmas gifts. She does so much for us so I love getting to bless her and give her things that show her how much I honor her.

There are some important figures that show up in the Christmas story but are often misplaced and misrepresented. They are the wise men or magi from the east. People often think there were three of them because they gave gold, frankincense and myrrh. But where the Bible records their three gifts, it does not record how many actual magi there were who visited Jesus. The nativity sets people display in their home or yard often show the wisemen with shepherds but the wise men did not get to visit Jesus until He was about two years old.

The magi were kind of like astrologers who looked to the stars for guidance and when they saw a star from the east they knew God was reaching out to them to reveal that Jesus, the King of the Jews, was born. They followed the star because they wanted to worship Jesus. God had to supernaturally direct them because King Herod was jealous and ordered that all two year old Jewish boys and younger to be executed.

God reveals Jesus to people from the nations, from poverty or blue color work to spiritual magi and the financially affluent. The question we have to ask ourselves is will we forsake what we know and go on a long journey as the magi to follow Jesus? Will we forsake what we know and are comfortable with to find our joy in encountering Jesus?

In “the Presence” of Jesus the magi found joy, worshipped and gave extravagant gifts. Our worship ought to be the same. We should give Jesus our best because nothing is better than Him. As the saying goes, “wise men still seek Him.” May we be those who seek His presence and prize Him above all else.

Lord Jesus, I bring You my worship. Let my love and honor be lavish for You. I give You my best. There is no one or nothing else greater than You. I love You with all my heart. You bring me joy! I bow before You and adore You. In Your precious name, amen.