After Jesus was born, Magi from the east came and worshiped him. We don’t know much about them, but they have become the stuff of Christmas legend. With the few details we do have, we see God using an unlikely beacon to invite an unlikely group to the birth party of Jesus, the newborn King. God invites them, and they come and worship. May our hearts and eyes be open to the unlikely beacons God still uses to call unlikely people, and may our focus always be Jesus, the Savior of the world.
Prayer is much more than words we simply send towards God. Prayer is a vital part of our life and walk with God, so that we can “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” (Hebrews 10:22). This week we look at prayer as Talking with Our Father, a unique relationship made possible through the work of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We pray within a relationship of intimacy, belonging, and promise – all made possible by God reaching out to us as his children.
This week we’re looking at the final parables in Matthew 13 that point both to the coming of Jesus with the final judgment and our ministry and teaching today. When the final judgment happens, there will be a sharp line between those who belong to Jesus and those who don’t. In light of that, our ministry today must encompass both the old and new treasures of God’s kingdom.
In a pair of very short and powerful parables, Jesus tells his disciples that the kingdom of God is like a treasure that is worth far more than any sacrifice anyone ever might make to acquire it. God welcomes us freely into his kingdom by grace, but Jesus makes it clear that our entry must be decisive. No one can take hold of the treasure without making a game-changing commitment to it. May we find the treasure God has revealed to us, and from great joy may we put everything on the line to enter the kingdom.
Last week we looked at a parable in which good seed fell on all kinds of soils, but this week Jesus is teaching about good and bad seed planted in fertile soil. The presence of evil in the world shouldn’t surprise us, but it isn’t a call to arms, either. In a parable filled with tension, Jesus teaches what the familiar song affirms: “Though the wrong is great and strong, God is the ruler yet!” This calls for patient hope and a lot of grace on the part of believers.