Today's Devotion

Today's devotional brought to you by Prayer Warrior Jon Vasgar.

                                                                                                    Bringing Our Gifts

Matthew 2: 1-2, 7-11 (NKJV) "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.' Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found [Him], bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.' When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

As I was reading this, it struck me how symbolic the three gifts were. I don't want to focus on Herod or debate how many wise men there were. (More than three! )

Think about the gifts given. He was a baby when the wise men got to Him, but they gave Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Why are those symbolic? Well, think of this:

Gold is the most valuable of all the metals. often used when making a crown. Jesus was the long promised king. So, the gift acknowledged that.

Frankincense represents Jesus' purity. Leviticus 5:11 (NKJV) says this at the latter part of the verse: "Nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it [is] a sin offering." So, Frankincense is for only the very pure. Frankincense couldn't touch anything sinful, this represents our holy Saviour.

Myrrh was a seemingly odd choice. Myrrh was used to anoint dead bodies. This represents why He came to earth. It was to die for our sins and shed his blood for us. Without which, we have no remission of sin. In John 19:39 (NKJV), we see the use of myrrh: "And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds."

All of that brought me to this. What kind of gifts to you bring to Jesus? What will we lay at His feet one day? A gift for Jesus should be one that is done because He is our Saviour, because He is our King and because He deserves to be worshiped by us. "And what are our gifts?" you ask. Well, that's anything you do to honor Him. Our good works. Ah, but remember. Don't do these so you can brag to others. God is not mocked. I Corinthians 3:12-13 (KJV) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."

It will be revealed. Did you do the work to worship and honor our King and Saviour or did you do it so others could see? It will be revealed. I don't know about you, but I know I want to be able to bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh to lay at Jesus' feet when we get to see Him.

Prayer:

Lord, I ask You to show us where we are serving ourselves and not You. Show us where we need to humble ourselves and turn to You. Let us not be doing what we do because of how many people will see it and lose sight of you. Thank You for being victorious over the grave! Thank You for saving our wretched souls! Thank You for being our returning King! We long to see Your face, Lord.

AMEN

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