“We Three Kings of Orient are….”

My dear friends. . . we, like , have traveled a great distance. While it may seem like just yesterday we were beginning our journey of 2016, here we are again, beginning 2017, well we are 8 days into 2017 by the time that you are reading this, but you get the point. Whew!! Times just keeps on tick tick ticking.

This second Sunday of the New Year we find ourselves at the feet of the Holy Wise Men, the men that followed a star and traveled a great distance to see a new born child. Now, I am not talking like they jumped on a plane and flew to Sacramento for the weekend to see the grandkids. I mean these men traveled by foot and by camel a very long way to come and see . I don’t know about you, but I certainly think that I would just look up at that star and pray for some clouds to come and cover it up. There would be no way that I would be making that trip. The thought of bouncing along on the back of a camel is more than I can bare just sitting here and thinking about it.

However, I don’t think that the importance here is that these men made the trip; it is what they made the trip for. They made this journey to fulfill a task. The task was bringing their gifts, and laying these gifts at the feet of Jesus.

We know that the gold, and that was presented to this holy infant and his family point toward the special role that God sent this child to fulfill. Gold represents his kingship, frankincense represents his priesthood, and myrrh prefigures his death. These three gifts would also be considered of great value in the ancient world into which the Christ was born. But, there is something more.

These three men, made this selfless trek to come and worship Jesus. They put aside there needs and comforts to give honor and glory to someone higher than themselves. They wanted to honor someone that was equally as wise, someone that had a star appointed as his very own.

As we begin this new year with these three wise old friends, what is it that we are willing to sacrifice to come and worship Jesus? What comfort are we willing to give up to make the journey that our God is asking us to embark upon in 2017. Where does He want us to trust Him or rely on Him more?

And, when we arrive, what gift do we want to present? What gold, frankincense, and myrrh do we have that we are going to present to Him? We have many options to choose from, but what are three things? Be concrete, realistic! What gift do you want to present?

In 2017, I would encourage us all to make the journey, and bring Him that gift!