Where Is He?

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2 (emphasis mine)

Where is he… we… have come to worship him.

Sometimes even with the best intentions, the most focused devotionals, the most wonderfully written stories and best-laid plans.. sometimes Christmas day comes rushing toward us like a freight train full of goodies and fun threatening to run over the little babe laying on the tracks, a sacrifice in swaddling clothes. Sometimes Christmas morning leaves us spent and empty and asking ourselves… WHERE IS HE?

As Christians we can rest in the peace of God, knowing that He is always…

right..

here..

even when we’re not looking.

Jesus is here.

Sometimes we turn our back to Him and we’re looking the wrong way and we don’t see Him, but Jesus assures us, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28, emphasis mine.) He’s holding us, in His hand. All the Christmas hooplah in the world will not make him let us go.

So, then, when we look around and we think, “We came to worship Him, where is He?” ask yourself:

“Did we do everything we could do to glorify God in everything that we did?” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

“Did we do our best, heartily, for God, and not for those around us?” (Colossians 3:23-24)

If the answer is yes, then Jesus was right there, in that, in the act of glorifying God, in the act of pointing others to Him, in the act of doing our best for God, in the act of loving others, in the act of serving and giving. Jesus was there.

You won’t find him in the wrapping paper, discarded and stuffed into a trashcan.
You won’t find him under the tree, twinkling with lights and glittery ornaments.
You won’t find him in the perfect Christmas ham or turkey or the cherry pie.

Where is he? We have come to WORSHIP him!

Let it go, my friends!. You are looking too hard! He has already come. A little babe, a little over 2000 years ago. We don’t have to make it perfect for Jesus to show up. We don’t have to send him an invitation to come. We don’t have to drag Jesus into our Christmas morning celebration. We don’t have to look for some tingly holy-spirit-meeting kind of feeling to come over us to feel like Jesus came to our house on Christmas day.

He already came. And he’s right here. And all we have to do is go to him. Meet him where’s he standing.

Find him in the manger..

spend time with Him in Luke 2..

love Him by loving others..

Worship him with our hearts, our souls, our minds and all of our strength.

And praise God!! For He is Good! And he gave us the very best gift ever and we totally didn’t deserve it.

Psalm 150

Let Everything Praise the LORD

¹ Praise the LORD!Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
² Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

³Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
⁴ Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
⁵ Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

It sounds so easy, and yet mysterious. How.. HOW do we find him at Christmas with so many distractions fighting for our attention?
Consider the wise men:

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2: 10-11)

They worshiped him.

It’s that simple.

They brought him gold (a very precious commodity, they brought him the best, to honor him as king.)

They brought him frankincense (a spice burned when meeting with God, they came ready to meet with the Lord, face to face.)

They brought him myrrh (a precious oil known for it’s healing properties, they came to honor the one who would heal us in our sin-separation from God.)

Like the magi, as we come to Jesus this Christmas saying “Where is he? We have come to worship him,” let us also fall to the feet of Jesus in worship, offering our own gifts – our body, our mind, our soul and our strength, our life and all that we have – gifts to the king, our healer, who came to meet us face to face and bring us to redemption with God. Let us praise God for the gift of salvation.Let us celebrate Jesus.

Merry Christmas, my friends! May the joy of Jesus overcome you this Christmas season.

~~
Foot note: As I was getting ready to write this post and thoughts jumbled in my head on their way down to my fingers, I read this post, Unwrapping His Christmas Presence, and it was perfect, aligning thoughts in my head and making the words easier to come. Go read it. =)