Look Inside

Matt.2:¹⁰ “When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! ¹¹ They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” [with emphasis].

These men were rather wealthy and well advanced in age but as soon as they saw Jesus, they bowed and worshipped Him. The question to you as we celebrate Christmas is, what is keeping you from bowing to Jesus? What is keeping you from surrendering to Jesus? To bow to someone is to admit that the person is greater, superior. What has kept you from bowing to Jesus? What is it that you are bowing to that is not God? What in your life is coming in competition with your Maker? The only one worthy of your bow is Jesus. I pray that anything competing with Jesus for your bow will be taken away, in Jesus Name.

When you look at the story in Matt.2:9-11, their bowing appears to be something that was initiated by them, as if they saw the King and they bowed. But it was actually a response; their bowing to Jesus was a response not an initiative. It was a response to God’s gift; God gave the gift of Jesus and that gift is the gift that keeps on giving. God gave Jesus and it commanded a response. When we talk about us worshipping and bowing to Jesus, it is about getting us to do something for God, but us responding to what God has done for us. When we come to worship Jesus and we come to bow before Him, it is not so much as us putting our love for Him on display, but rather a response to His love for us. Huge difference!

If you rely primarily on your love for God, you will struggle. There will be times you do not feel like it. There will be times we may actually show up in the place of worship with an attitude, perhaps as a result of the offshoot of a bad day or a fall out from relational crisis, so you are not really feeling that love for Jesus. You need to understand that our worship is a response to the gift that does not expire, Jesus. A response to the Gift that keeps on giving and this inspires our worship of God regardless of what we have been facing. They bowed down and worshipped.

Receiving and appreciating gifts is great but you really cannot appreciate any gift until you open it. A little boy gets a gift for his birthday. The wrapping paper is really beautiful, and the boy cannot seem to get past how beautiful the wrapping paper is. His parents, who had been waiting to see his reaction to the gift shout, “That is not the gift, look into the box!” When he opens the box, he screams and jumps on them. Most times we cannot get past the wrapping paper of what Jesus has come to do. But God is saying to you today, ‘Look in to the box, unwrap the gift.’

Prayer: [song]: I see the Lord (2x), exalted high above the worship of the people of the earth. I see the Lord (2x), for my eyes have seen the King, the Lamb upon the throne… Amen!