Day 25 Advent Devotional | December 28th
Matthew 2:10-11
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.
The tradition of giving gifts at Christmastime finds its origin in today’s verse. Wise men from the East came to Jesus being led by a star. When they finally arrived, they presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrhh. In these gifts we see a template for what we can offer Jesus not only at Christmas but throughout our lives on this earth.
We can offer the gold of our lives. Those things that are most important to us or about us only find their true value when they are surrendered to Jesus. Of course, one might think of our money when we think of gold and there is a call to give generously of our resources in the scriptures, but there is more that is golden to us than money. We can offer Him the talents we possess, they are His gifts to us anyway. We can surrender the things we think are important in our lives to Him like our families, our careers, our possessions. Our time is golden to us, how much of that do we give to Him on a regular basis? We can also offer the frankincense of lives through prayer and communion. It was often used in biblical times as incense to be burned in worship. When we seek the Lord in prayer, we offer up our hearts to Him in submission. Our frankincense is prayerfully saying, “Thy will be done,” in our lives and in our world. Dare we offer the frankincense of full surrender to Him? Myrrh was used as a consecrating oil for the priests and implements of temple worship (Exodus 30). We can offer our myrrh of clean living and consecration to Lord by walking by His precepts not just at Christmas but every day and in every way. Full surrender of our lives to Jesus is the mark of our growing faith.
So today, let us offer our own version of gold, frankincense and myrrh to our Savior. I can think of no better prayer to pray than that of poet, Christian Rosetti. The last verse of her poem In the Bleak Midwinter is included here for your use as a prayer you can prayer in the tradition of the Wise Men:
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.