A Devotion for January 14, 2016

Thursday: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2; NIV).

            In our day at least, we hear the magi say that they have come to worship the baby Jesus and we think that here at last we have men of wisdom. We have to be a little careful, though. After all, the magi are listed along with astrologers, diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers in Daniel 2 and 5. Unlike the chief priests, these were not men who were searching the Scriptures! So, on the one hand, there is something laudable about these men who come seeking, who were willing to investigate, who at least listen to God’s Word when it’s spoken. On the other hand, as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well: they did not know what (or better who) they were worshiping. Their wisdom, such as it was, was a wisdom of self-understanding; they were trying to figure things out for themselves.

            That wisdom lives in us, too., but it’s not yet godly wisdom. Godly wisdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who instructs us through the Word in the ways of God. True wisdom, then, is found in searching the Scriptures and standing humbly beneath them as they shape us to the image of Christ.