SHARE THIS BLOG

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

TUESDAY 12/10/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus

TUESDAY 12/10/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus


GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. —Matthew 2:10–11
God is not served by human hands as though he needed 
anything (Acts 17:25). The gifts of the magi are not given 
by way of assistance or need-meeting. It would dishonor a 
monarch if foreign visitors came with royal care-packages. 

Nor are these gifts meant to be bribes. Deuteronomy 
10:17 says that God takes no bribe. Well, what then do 
they mean? How are they worship?

The gifts are intensifiers of desire for Christ himself in 
much the same way that fasting is. When you give a gift to 
Christ like this, it’s a way of saying, “The joy that I pursue (
verse 10) is not the hope of getting rich with things from 
you. I have not come to you for your things, but for your
self. And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by 
giving up things, in the hope of enjoying you more, not 
things. By giving to you what you do not need, and what I 
might enjoy, I am saying more earnestly and more authen
tically, ‘You are my treasure, not these things.’”  

I think that’s what it means to worship God with gifts 
of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

May God take the truth of this text and waken in us 
a desire for Christ himself. May we say from the heart, 
“Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the King of Israel. All 
nations will come and bow down before you. God wields 
the world to see that you are worshiped. Therefore, what
ever opposition I may find, I joyfully ascribe authority and 
dignity to you, and bring my gifts to say that you alone can 
satisfy my heart, not these.”

No comments:

Post a Comment