Brown's Daily Word 1-4-10

Good morning.
Happy New Year. Praise the Lord for this new year and new decade. It is written in Revelation 21 that, "He makes all things new". He takes old broken lives with shattered dreams and hopes when they are given to him (all pieces included) and He makes them new. Praise the Lord as we enter the new year through the Festival of Christmas. In Christmas we celebrate God's unspeakable gift to us in the Person of Jesus Christ "wrapped in swaddling clothes". It is the festival of the Epiphany in the life of the church, starting January 6. Epiphany somehow symbolizes our gift to the Lord in the same way that the Wise men came, offering gifts to the Newborn King.
Laureen came home on Saturday afternoon. She arrived safely after attending the Urbana 2009 Conference in St. Louis, Mo. The Conference, attended by over 17,000 college and university Students and many young adults, focused on the local and worldwide Mission of the Church. Laureen returned with both soul and heart full. She shared during worship services yesterday, which was a huge blessing.
The passage for yesterday was taken from Mathew 2, regarding the Visit of the Magi. The wise men started it all. That is, they started the giving and receiving of Christmas gifts. First of all, their gift was personally given. These were wealthy people who came to present their gifts to the Christ. They came from another country, probably Iraq. Though they could have sent the gift, they really felt a sense of mission and wanted personally to bring these gifts to the Christ child. In Mathew 2:2, "We saw His star in the East and have come to worship Him." When they determined the location of the Savior's birth, "They went their way." Then, "when they saw the star, they rejoiced." In verse 11, "They came into the house. Opening their treasures, they fell down and worshiped Him. Opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts." The gifts were personally given.
Furthermore, the gifts were properly given. There was more to their gifts than just gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Theirs was a gift with worship, adoration, glory, honor, and praise to Jesus.
The wise men teach us that to give unexpected gifts to others. No one expected the magi give this gift. They came to present gifts and worship to the King of the Jews, though they themselves were not Jews. They had no part in this according to the standard of the day. They had merely heard about by studying the skies. When the wise men stopped at Herod’s house, you would think that Herod would go down to see Jesus. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Totally unexpected was this visit of the wise men. Nobody would have ever thought that Magi would come, after working their way for weeks and months to the place where Jesus was born, to bring their "unexpected" gifts. It is said that the best gifts are unexpected gifts.
When the Wise men gave the gifts, they did so with joy. They rejoiced when they saw the star. They rejoiced when they saw Mary. This gift was "burning a hole in their pockets", so to speak. They could hardly wait to give it to the child to whom they were to present it.
Richard Foster, the Quaker theologian wrote, "Giving with a glad and generous heart has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us. Even the poor need to know that they can give. Just the very act of letting go of money or some other treasure does something within us. That something is it destroys the demon, greed."
The gift the wise men gave their gifts to Christ that year, but the story has been told now for over two thousand years. People still know the gifts that the wise men gave. They gave a gift that would last. There are two gifts that you can give at Christmas that will last forever. One is the gift of good memories and another is the gift of a Godly heritage.
I want to have a Godly heritage for my children and for my grandchildren. I want to be one who starts a Godly heritage for our family life. That’s the kind of gift that will last.
Often we all struggle with procrastination and slothfulness. Samuel Johnson said, "He who waits to do a great deed of good all at once will never do anything.” Those wise men were not about to go back home until they gave over those gifts to Jesus. They pressed through opposition. They pressed through time. I'm sure they were discouraged. I'm sure people said, "Turn back. You're never going to find Him." I'm sure they said, No, we want to give it now. One of the saddest things in life, which I have observed hundreds of times in hundreds of funerals is to see people look at their loved ones and wish for one day back where they could .
"They were going to be all they wanted to be, tomorrow.
None would be braver or kinder than they, tomorrow.
A friend who was troubled and wearied they knew,
Would be glad for a lift and needed it too,
And on him they would call and see what they could do, tomorrow.
Each morning they stacked up the letters they’d write, tomorrow.
And thought of the folks that they would fill with delight, tomorrow.
The greatest of people they just might have been.
The world would have opened its heart up to them.
But in fact, they passed on and faded from view,
And all they had left when their living was through,
Was a mountain of things they intended to do, tomorrow." (John Maxwell)

In Christ the Bright and the Morning Star.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzIESPA_-Uw