Matthew 2:11
"On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
They arrived at a house. Not a stable. Not a manger. By the time the Magi found Jesus, the family had moved into a house. Some time had passed. And these men from the East, these scholars and astrologers and Gentiles, walked into a humble home in Bethlehem and they fell to their knees. They did not look at the dirt floor and see poverty. They looked at the child and saw a King.
Then they opened their treasures. Not their pockets. Their treasures. These were not casual gifts. These were the most valuable things they owned. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Each one heavy with meaning. Gold for a King. Frankincense for a Priest. Myrrh for burial. They brought gifts that acknowledged who Jesus was and what He would do. They brought worship that cost them something.
Worship that does not cost you anything is not worship. It is entertainment. The Magi did not bring spare change. They brought their treasures. They had traveled hundreds of miles, invested months of their lives, and when they finally stood before the child they had been seeking, they emptied their hands. They gave the best they had. Not because Jesus needed it. Because they needed to give it. Worship is not about what God gets from us. It is about what we become when we give.
I think about what I bring to Jesus. Do I bring my leftovers. My spare time. My extra energy. The things I can afford to give without feeling it. Or do I bring my treasures. The things that matter. The things that cost me something. The Magi gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What are my gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Maybe it is my time. Maybe it is my forgiveness. Maybe it is the thing I have been holding onto the tightest. The thing I am most afraid to let go of.
God does not need my gifts. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. But He wants my heart. And the way my heart reveals itself is through what I give. When I give freely, sacrificially, joyfully, I am saying, "You are worth more than this. You are worth more than everything." That is what the Magi said with their treasures. That is what I am learning to say with mine.
"They opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts."
Today I am opening my treasures. Not my bank account. My heart. I am laying before Jesus the things I have been clutching. My need for control. My fear of the future. My pride. My shame. I am opening my hands and I am saying, "This is Yours. All of it. The gold and the myrrh. The beautiful and the bitter. Take it. It was always Yours." And in the giving, I find that I am lighter. That is the strange mathematics of worship. The more I give away, the more I have.
With the sixteenth candle warm and my hands open in the ancient posture of surrender, I am learning that worship is the most expensive and most freeing thing I will ever do. Claire