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"When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was."
(Matthew 2:9)
These wise men from the east traveled west to see the Child born in Bethlehem. I love how intentional and proactive they were. They left their homelands, made the long journey, entered the house where Jesus was, fell before Him, worshiped Him, and presented their gifts to Him. May their example inspire us to do the same. The wise men were unified in their mission. They knew they had to make a long, arduous journey to get to the Promised Messiah. I am sure they had their moments on the journey because they were human beings! But they persevered and kept the purpose before them. They provide a model for the Church today: stay together, keep Jesus the focus, and adopt an attitude of, "We have never done this before, and it is hard, but we are moving forward nonetheless."
In John 17, Jesus prayed for His Church to be one as the Father and the Son are one. The result of our unity would be this astounding blessing: the world will believe that God sent His Son! Unity in the home, at work, in the church, or on a sports' team is a goal worthy of our best efforts. To rally around a purpose greater than any one individual is praiseworthy. If the wise men in the east could travel over 500 miles through some rough terrain, stay together, and reach their goal of seeing the Christ Child, then we too can make sacrifices and be unified.
I recently finished reading Once You See by Jeff Christopherson. In this Christian novel of church life in America, a pastor's wife named Chantel states, "It seems that God is never truly finished writing our stories. He stretches and grows us into fuller beings, molding us into the very image of Jesus through both our successes and our failures. If we allow him. Sometimes he pushes us further and deeper into community with those around us, while other times we must leave the comfort of what we've always known to become who we were always meant to be. For this one thing I learned to be true: following Jesus means that we never stay the same."
I pray that you will stay close to Jesus and one another this Christmas Season and throughout the year. Let us be unified and, "as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith" ( Galatians 6:10).
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