Christmas Special - Precious Gift for the Lord
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 12348 |
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December 16, 2012 |
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Illustrated by Dongho Kim
Around 2,000 years ago, God sent His only begotten Son to save all mankind who were on the pathway to death due to sins. Jesus, as the sign of the love demonstrated by God, died on the cross without sin and opened the way of salvation for anyone who believes. That is, God gave us the precious gift of being able to enter into the beautiful Heaven and share in eternal love and joy with God the Father.
On Christmas, what kind of gift are we supposed to give to the Lord who has given us salvation, eternal life, and Heaven?
Matthew chapter 2 describes the birth of Jesus who came as the King of the Jews. The three magi saw His star and came to Him to celebrate and worship Him. They offered Him three gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God chose these good and righteous men and allowed for them to worship Jesus, who came to the earth as the Savior, on the behalf of all mankind.
Let's look into the spiritual meanings of the three gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—and prepare the true gifts for the Lord. By doing so, we hope you will confess your love for the Lord on this joyful Christmas.
Gold, the Heart
People love gold the most of all metals on the earth. It is the very symbol of riches and wealth. It is recorded in Matthew 6:21, ". . .for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," so, gold also refers to our hearts. Therefore, 'giving gold to the Lord' means we have to give everything we have to the Lord. It doesn't just mean what we can do within our limits. When we give more than our life, God will be pleased with us.
In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus praised the poor widow who gave all she had. She, out of her poverty, put only two mites (NKJV) into the treasury. Here, a 'mite' is a former Greek monetary unit and the 'smallest and least valuable coin.' Yet, Jesus said that this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury.
As recorded in 1 Kings chapter 17, a widow in Zeraphath served Elijah, the servant of God, with the last thing she had available to eat. She and her son didn't have anything to eat except for a handful of flour in the flour barrel and a little oil in the jar because there was a continuing drought. So, the flour and oil were like a lifeline to her family. But the woman obeyed Elijah the prophet who was loved by God and God accepted her heart. As a result, she received the blessing that the barrel of flour was not exhausted, nor was the jar of oil empty, until the drought ended.
In this same way, if we give all we have and serve God first, even in the situation where it does not seem that we can, such a heart is recognized as beautiful in God's sight. It is referred to the heart of giving 'gold' to Him.
Frankincense, the Fragrance of the Christ
Frankincense is used in incense for an offering by fire and a grain offering that were fragrant offerings God accepted with joy. There were the Levites who took care of the frankincense. Between June and August, people harvest aromatic resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia Sacra by wounding it. The milk-white resin is bled out and a milk-like substance is formed. This is frankincense. The flowing resin forms like drops. It is soft like rubber and is a transparent light yellow or light green. It darkens to white and then to yellow over time and hardens. (Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankincense)
Frankincense removes foul odor and sends forth a good fragrance. The giving of the frankincense spiritually means the spreading the fragrance of the Christ. When we remove all forms of evil and glorify God with good deeds, we can spread the fragrance of Christ. This is represented by the offering of frankincense to the Lord. Those who offer 'frankincense', their souls will prosper. They will be successful in everything they do and they will enjoy good health as recorded in 3 John 1:2.
God doesn't search for only our deeds but also sees our heart. He first receives good aroma from our hearts. That's why those who really love God and understand this heart of God do their best to circumcise their hearts and get rid of every form of evil. Those who spread the fragrance of Christ by circumcising their hearts, namely those who 'give the Lord frankincense', can give everything they have to the Lord and do not spare even their lives for Him.
Myrrh, Unchanging Faith
Myrrh has been used as a perfume, incense and embalmment. In ancient times, noble women would make a pouch of myrrh and wear it like the pendant of a necklace (Ref: Song of Songs 1:13). The kings of Persia put it in their crowns and used it as a tonic. Myrrh is tapped from a number of species of trees, Commiphora. These trees are hardy shrubs. When a wound penetrates through the bark of the tree and into the sapwood, the tree bleeds a resin. Myrrh gum is such a resin. When people harvest myrrh, they wound the trees repeatedly to bleed them of the gum. After the harvest, the gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish, and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge. The gum is white at first and changed into yellow and then brown. Then it is hardened. (Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrrh)
Giving myrrh, which is used as an embalmment, to the Lord in a spiritual sense means we have to give the Lord what does not perish. That is, we unchangingly give our hearts in surrendering even our lives to the Lord. To have such an unchanging heart, we must cast off every form of evil. This is because some forms of evil that remain in you may cause you to seek your own benefits and cause you to change your mind. Thus, we need to get rid of untruth through circumcision of heart and fill it up with the truth. Moreover, if you give yourself completely to the Lord with an unchanging heart, it is the best gift offered to the Lord.
On December 25, 2010, Manmin members received a very special gift from God. It is to let us realize the original roots of evil in our hearts amid the rapid spiritual flow and to cast them away. Through this, many members have come forth as men of spirit and whole spirit. Since then, Christmas which is Jesus' birthday became a more meaningful and happier day. We received the precious gift so we should confess our burning love for the Lord with the true gifts on this upcoming Christmas.
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