Find Hope: Matthew 1-4Намуна

When Was the Last Time You Lost and Then Found Something?

Last year, my wife donated some clothes in a charity bin next to a supermarket. When she got back in the car, she couldn't find her new iPhone. Thankfully, she had an iWatch, so she opened the “Find My” app, which plays a sound to help you find your phone. After not hearing anything in the car, she got out and heard her phone ringing from inside the clothing bin. Now, my wife is a generous woman, but she’s not that generous! She did her best to grab her phone out of the bin but failed to retrieve it. She ended up calling a number, and the next day was able to get her phone back—with great joy!

At the first Christmas, wise men, Gentile men, non-Jewish men, travelled far to find Jesus because they saw a special star in the sky—a star they couldn’t ignore. In a way, this star was like the Find My app; it directed these wise men from the east towards baby Jesus, the new king of the Jews.

And yet, don’t skip over how these wise men were diligently searching for Jesus. For days they walked in the Middle East, with heavy supplies, to find this baby they didn't know for sure existed. When we hear this story, we think, "Oh, what a nice stroll for these wise men." Most scholars estimate that these men walked in faith about 1,000 kilometers from Babylon or Persia to find Jesus. That’s like walking from Sydney to Melbourne!

Now why did they do this? Why did they walk this distance? They had a star. They had a gut instinct, guidance (from the Holy Spirit!) that someone important had been born and that they needed to find him and worship him.

I wonder, would you walk 1,000 kilometers to visit Jesus? Not to learn from Jesus, or be healed by Jesus, but to worship him and give him expensive gifts? If we truly understood who Jesus was, then like these men, we would in a heartbeat—men who rejoiced exceedingly with great joy when they met baby Jesus.

Today, ponder this: Does your heart rejoice exceedingly with great joy for Jesus? Or has it become numb? Has it become lukewarm and forgotten the beauty and magnificence of Jesus and how he’s a thousand times better than iPhones or anything else in this life?