- The Gifts We Bring
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Devotion by Bekah Williams
Download CBC’s Advent Devotional, The Gifts We Bring
While all of the gifts given to Jesus are special in their way, the greatest gift offered to the Christ Child was the magi’s offering of themselves. They laid before him and worshiped him, not just as a king but as Lord.
To recognize Jesus as Lord means to recognize Him as more than just a human. He is fully God. Recognizing Jesus as Lord means recognizing that His sacrifice means everything. There was and is no other human on earth that could do what He did- He saved us. He saw us in our worst, guiltiest, most regretful moments and still said, “I love them just the same. They are still worth everything to Me.”
Let’s understand that sin is a choice, a choice to love something more than God, even for a moment. A choice to love something that does not love us back that intends to drag us into a pit, that leaves us feeling emptier than before. Recognizing Jesus as Lord is choosing to see that God is worthy of love over everything and everyone else- it’s a choice. It’s choosing to see that Jesus is everything we cannot be. To offer ourselves to Jesus requires the first step of willingness. Our willingness comes from a place of understanding who God is and what His heart for us looks like.
When we choose to offer ourselves to God, that means we leave our desires behind because we understand that God’s ways are better than our own. It takes trusting that even when He calls us to the scary, unknown places, we trust Him enough to know that He’ll provide everything we need and take care of us all the way through our obedience because He’s on the other side of obedience waiting for us.
Jesus is the ultimate example of this willing offering. One way to see it is that we were the ones that put Jesus on the cross. No, He chose to go to the cross because He knew obeying His loving Father was going to be more glorifying to Him(see Matthew 26:39). Jesus could have chosen to stay off the cross because it was going to be difficult, painful, and ultimately lead to His physical death- but He remembered you. He saw you and decided you are worth His pain and difficulty and life. He provided absolute salvation for you, a sinner who every day goes against the One who decided you were worth dying for.
This knowledge calls for action, and that action is being like Jesus. So, recognizing Jesus as Lord means being willing to offer everything you have and everything you are to the One who gave you those things because He is worth it and worthy of it. Will you offer yourself unto Him?
Discussion Guide
- Share your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions.
- As you reflect on the passage from Matthew and this week’s devotional, what do you hear God say? Where do you see God at work?
- The magi could have reported where they had found the child, yet they didn’t. They recognized the cost of this trip and their defiance of the king and deemed worthy to come to worship this new king. How do you see these magi offering themselves as the greatest gift to the newborn king?
- Many people say they follow Jesus, but few declare Him as Lord. To follow means to imitate, but to declare Lordship is an act of surrender. Where have you not fully given yourself to your Lord? What are you still holding back from Him? Will you surrender it all to follow Him and declare Him Lord?