#1. “Better than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
“How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver” (Proverbs 16:16).
“Why were the Magi called, “The Three Wise Men?”” the teacher asked her class. One little boy called out, “Because they were all rich.” At which point the teacher said, “No, the Wise Men were wise because they went to find the greatest teacher in the world.”
How true that little story is, I don’t know, but it does make valuable points.
If the average person were offered the choice between “Gold and Silver” or “Wisdom and Understanding,” most would take the money. They have been programmed to believe, like the little boy, that to possess wealth proves that you are already wise and understanding.
However, as much as we Christians will “Amen” the wise teacher, we still find it hard to rid ourselves of the worldly view downloaded into the little boy’s brain. After all, it is hard to convince someone that a person who struggles to pay their bills can be smarter than someone who has money to spare.
Therefore, we would be Wise and Understanding to heed the words of our little boy’s teacher: “The Wise Men were wise because they went to find the greatest teacher in the world.”
It is a strange irony that Jesus’ literal dirt-poor beginnings has long since become the world’s biggest commercial holiday. Santa may have won the marketing stakes, but it is the gifts of the Wise Men that are used to tug the heartstrings. The Magi would be insulted to think that their tokens of honour have been elevated above their quest to find the One worthy of their worship. They looked for and found the One whom Isaiah wrote about:
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
That is Wisdom and Understanding!
John Staiger
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