This morning I was reading in Matthew 1-2 for my quiet time. As I read of the wise men worshiping baby Jesus, I was impressed by their faith and dedication.
The ignorant bystander, seeing well-learned and obviously wealthy man prostrating themselves before a common infant, must have thought they were fools! Why would such educated men travel thousands of miles to humble themselves before a mere child? Why would they give such lavish and costly gifts to some insignificant baby in Bethlehem? Surely they must have had something wrong in the head!
But these wise men had faith. They saw a star and firmly believed that it pointed to the King of the Jews. People just don't travel thousands of miles on a mere whim, nor do they "happen" to bring expensive gifts with them "just in case." Surely these men had set out with a purpose, and they saw it through to the very end because they believed in it. Their dedication demonstrates the depth of their faith. Regardless of the effort, the personal cost, or the things people might have said or thought about them, they went, worshipped and offered their royal gifts.
As I was pondering this duality of faith and dedication, I thought about what it might look like in the life of a believer today. Christ calls us to lifestyles of sacrifice that just don't mesh with the self-serving culture of our day. I thought of passages like Luke 9:23-26, where Christ calls those who wish to come after Him to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Him. I recalled His Sermon on the Mount, where He spoke of loving our enemies. These kinds of things just don't come naturally; they aren't the kinds of principles our society lives by.
It occured to me that if we lived these principles out, people would likely pity us as though we were poor fools, much like the wise men could have been pitied. People would feel sorry for us for wasting our time being do-gooders when we could be enjoying ourselves and living it up. Then that passage in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul writes of the importance of the resurrection, came to mind. He says that if there is no resurrection, then our faith is in vain, and we are to be pitied among all men. Yet the only real difference between me and the people who might pity me is that I have been given faith.
Finally, after meditating for a while on these truths, my thoughts came to rest on another passage in 1 Corinthians. In chapter 3 Paul writes "...for the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God..." I can't help but smile when I think of that; this verse kind of turned the tables on my thought processes up to this point.
Sure, the world might think we're idiots for living radical, sacrificial lifestyles, for worshipping a God we can't see and spending our lives seeking to know and obey Him. Let them think we're fools. The truth is that their self-centered lifestyles are the real epitome of foolishness. When they come to the end of their days and stand before the Creator they will be painfully aware of the how meaningless their lives were. Face to face with God, they will see something greater than themselves and will regret not living for Him. I pity them in that moment.Labels: journal/quiet time