“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

When you truly come into the presence of Jesus, you find yourself wanting to worship him. For the wise men, this was the natural response of seeing Jesus even as a young boy. They knew that they were standing in the midst of royalty and they did what was fitting. They bowed down and worshipped Christ as an expression of reverence and respect. Then they gave gifts to Jesus that were extravagant and costly because that’s what you do for a king. The whole experience for these men who had travelled for months to be in that very spot, was one of joy. Actually, they were overjoyed when they came to the place that the star stood over. Their reward was their opportunity to worship the Messiah, the Saviour of mankind.

This should be our experience as well whenever we come into the presence of Jesus. We must always remember that we are in the midst of the sovereign lord and king of the universe. That alone is our reward for seeking him. Our response to Christ should be like the magi who were full of joy and prepared to offer themselves to the Lord in worship, with their posture of surrender and submission and with their tangible gifts befitting a king.

I will be speaking more about this compulsion to worship Christ on Sunday. Read the story in Matthew 2:1-12 and note the ways that the wise men went looking for Jesus, prepared to worship him and what that looks like for you and me now

Christmas is all about Jesus and what better time is there to focus on Christ and to offer him our best? Of course, we should strive to be in Jesus’ presence every day throughout the year and make him the centre of everything we do.

I hope to see you tonight at our Christmas Eve service beginning at 6 p.m. It’s a great time for our church family to celebrate Christ’s birth together. And then on Sunday we will continue our Christmas theme and conclude our service with worship and prayer for God’s favour in 2015.

With Christmas blessings to you,

Pastor Del