Just this week I heard someone say how hard the Christmas season is on so many people. Doesn’t it almost feel like a marathon from Thanksgiving to Christmas? All the shopping, baking, buying, wrapping… It’s easy to get too busy and spend too much money. We easily exert our energy focused on the wrong thing.
Consider the wise men. (They were called ‘wise’ after all.) They traveled hundreds of miles across the desert to seek out the baby King. Did they feel rushed in their journey? Did they worry about arriving too late and missing the biggest event in all of history? Were they burdened by their desire to present gifts. I would imagine that gold, frankincense, and myrrh were fairly costly. Were they overwhelmed by the expense?
To answer the questions, I seriously doubt they were worried about any of these issues. Near the end of their journey, Matt 2:10 tells us they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” Why were they not burdened by their travels? by their added expenses? Perhaps because their focus wasn’t on these things but rather on something else much more significant — coming to worship the new born King.
This Christmas season, choose to focus on the right thing. Reject the pressure to attend every event. Don’t go into debt to buy the perfect gift. Don’t live to please our society. Rather, focus on Jesus. Worship the King. Be a wise man. Adapted from Billy Graham, Hope for Each Day