December 25

On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. — Matt 2:11 BSB

The wise men were not content to simply worship the King with words or gestures—they also brought their gifts and laid them at His feet. In the same way, it’s not enough for us to sing songs of praise to Christ or to bow in reverence. We should bring our gifts as well, as tokens of our love, and lay them at His feet.

Many people’s consecration is just sentimentality. They sing missionary hymns with passion, but when the collection plate is passed, they let it go by. They pray that God will send laborers into the harvest, but they don’t respond to God’s call themselves. We need to learn that our singing and praying must be backed by action.

Not only did the wise men bring gifts, but they brought rich and costly ones. We, too, should bring our best to Christ—our gold, incense, and myrrh—the best of our love, our life, and our service. Too often, we give Christ only what’s left after we’ve taken all we want for ourselves. But He deserves our best.