“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and wor- shiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
– Matthew 2:11
Read Matthew 2:11. I think that it’s such a cool part of the story that the wise men brought gifts to this baby. I picture them laying these really expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh around His little manger. Interestingly, those gifts are not really for a baby; they're for other times in a person’s life. They most likely didn’t know what Jesus would do with them, but they brought them anyway. We’re called to do the same thing.
We’re called to bring our gifts to Jesus, no matter what they are or what we think Jesus will do with them. Our call is to bring them and commit them to God. Sometimes, we make the mistake of valuing certain gifts over others. In churches, we often over-value gifts like leadership, singing, and speaking, to name a few, but that’s wrong. Just because you don’t do the things our world deems “better” doesn’t mean that God can’t do just as much (if not more) with your gifts. Many times, when we wrongly value some gifts over others, people without those gifts shy away from using the gifts God has given them, and that’s a loss for everybody.
So, whether you’re an incredible writer, able to fix a car, or strong enough to kick a soccer ball the length of the field, God wants you to bring those gifts and offer them to Him. No matter what you do, believe that God wants to do incredible things for the world and His Kingdom through you and your gifts. This doesn’t mean that every time you write a fantastic poem you need to kneel and pray before you submit it to the teacher. It just means that when you do these things, you understand them as an act of worship to the One who gave you that gift.
QUESTIONS:
If you were one of the wise men, what gift would you have brought to Jesus?
Make a list of the things God has gifted you with. How do you think He could use those for His Kingdom?
