Gift giving is a love language. People's desire to say " I love you" means billions of dollars are poured into our economy in the holiday season. That is a lot of love!
We honor another when our gift reflects who they truly are as a person. In light of that let us consider the gifts of the wise men in the Christmas story. We read that they "opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." (Matthew 2:11) These valuable items were standard gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: gold as a precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense, and myrrh as anointing oil.
These gifts also reveal the nature of Jesus' work to come - gold representing his kingship, frankincense a symbol of his priestly role, and myrrh a prefiguring of his death and embalming.
Those were the gifts of the magi. The question now is what gift do we bring to Christ? The simple answer: our hearts.
Prayer: Lord Jesus I give you my heart. Take your rightful place in my life. You are the King of Kings, the Great High Priest and Savior of all.
Gift for others: Give a person today an act of kindness or a listening moment or a willingness to overlook a wrong.
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