Valerie Rae Hanneman
Matthew 2:11 (The Message) “They entered the house and saw the Child in the arms of Mary, His mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshipped Him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
My favorite time of Christmas comes this next Tuesday and Wednesday. Fawn and I have those two days off from our jobs. We will spend those two days working hard making fudge, candies, brittles and cookies to give out to our friends as gifts. Every year Fawn and I try to come up with a new fudge or candy to try. This year we are dropping the peanut butter fudge and we are going to try a cherries-in-white-chocolate fudge. We are also going to try to make toffee along with the brittles. (I am gaining weight just thinking about them!) This is my favorite time of Christmas on two levels. First and most important, I get to spend some time with Fawn. Fawn works nights and I work days so we have gone for days on end without actually seeing each other so I am jazzed (understatement) about being together with her. The second joy is that what we make will be gifts for people we love. Truth is, we could probably get our friends some little gift that would cost less and be much easier to get than the goodies we make. We choose to make these gifts because we hope that the effort of the gift lets our friends know how much we love and appreciate them.
What were the gifts from the wise men from the east? “Well duh, Valerie!” I can almost hear you saying, “both the Bible and centuries of tradition say that the gifts were gold, frankincense and myrrh! Everybody knows that!” And you are right, gold, frankincense and myrrh are the gifts that the were taken out of the luggage and physically given. But there were gifts of much greater significance given that day to Jesus.
The first significant gift that the wise men gave to Jesus was time. From where I am sitting right now Sierra Summit in the Sierras is east of me. So is Washington, DC and so is Jerusalem. The Word of God just says that they came from the east but it doesn’t say how long it took them. There are indications that they may have traveled for as much as two years before they reached Jesus. They had to give up their time, drop the everyday hustle and bustle of their lives – they had to give up the “normal” of their lives to pursue and find God.
The second gift was effort and hardship. If I suddenly got a wild and crazy urge to go east all I would have to do is grab my credit cards, my car keys and go. I would have easy access to all that I needed on the road - food, gas, clothes, & hotels. The only limits on my ability go east would be the Atlantic Ocean and the limit on my cards. Not so for the wise men. Whether they traveled for two weeks or for two years there was major effort and hardship involved. They had to arrange for the means of travel – the caravan of horses, camels, wagons, food, servants, guards, animal drovers supplies, accomedations, etc. And although I am sure that they tried to travel as comfortably as possible, sleeping on the ground, cooking with a campfire, enduring the stench of the animals and each other had to be trying on the body and spirit. They had to endure hardship to find God.
The next gift was commitment. They started out determined to see the trip through. There had to have been times when they said to themselves, “What were we thinking to start this?” there were times when it all just got to be too much and they just wanted t throw up their hands and go home. But they didn’t. They had to persevere to find God.
The biggest gift that they gave was faith. They had read in the ancient writings of a star like none other that would herald the birth of a King like none other. When they saw that star they had no physical proof, no scientific proof that there really would be a King. What they did have was a faith big enough to cause them to step out of their comfort zone and to follow a star and to find a King who is God. When they found Him, because of their faith, they knew who He was, and they fell down and worshipped Him
The gifts that the wise men gave to Jesus when they finally found Him were great. But the gifts that caused rejoicing in heaven and brought a smile to Father’s face were not the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were the gifts that could not bee seen and could not be measured. They were the gifts of time, of endurance, of commitment and of faith and worship. These were the gifts that made a lasting – and eternal – difference.
I wish that I could give Jesus a gift that is worthy of Him, a gift that expresses how very much I love Him, how I worship Him, how I cannot imagine my life without Him. What gift can I give that is fit for a King?
All that I can give Him are the same gifts that the wise men gave Him. I give Him my time, my endurance, my commitment, my faith, my worship and my love. I give Him everything because He is my everything. Jesus takes my humble gifts and He turns them into something that is as bright and magnificent as a star that lit up the night thousands of years ago.
LORD Jesus, You are everything to me. You are the foundation of my life. I am not much, I struggle daily to live a life worthy of You, sometimes I succeed, and more times I don’t. But I love You with my whole heart. I gladly give to You everything I have, I give You my time, my endurance, my commitment, my faith and my worship. Use my gifts; use me to Your glory.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of FFBC at Valerie@fresnofirst.org