Traveling to the Crib

Based on Matthew 2:1-18

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Judea and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”…After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.—Matthew 2:1, 2, 9-12

I’m intrigued by two simple sentences in Matthew 2—

“We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” (v.2)

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. (v. 11)

The Magi seem to live with a singular focus in life. They want to worship. They orient their lives around their desire and, as a result, they receive the fulfillment of their desire: they find the one they were seeking and they worship him.

Solomon, widely known for his wisdom, tells us that God “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We were created for worship, for the eternal, for something greater than ourselves.

The wise men recognized signs of the eternal, of the divine, in the Jewish prophecies and writings they found. They took the information they had and followed it until it led them to the One to which the prophecies pointed.

The desire for the eternal was so pressing that they went out of their comfort zone to a totally new land. They persevered in their quest—traveling for several years, asking questions when they needed help, following the light that they had until it led them to their destination.

When the star stopped, when it shone its light steadily at their destination, they accepted God’s answer to their quest, as unlikely as it might have seemed. After all, the king of the Jews housed in a common home, unknown to neighbors or political or religious leaders? How likely must that have seemed? Yet they accepted him as the One they had been seeking, the king of the Jews.

The Magi experienced joy as their heart’s desire was fulfilled in discovering God’s chosen One.

They offered the Christ child their gifts and treasure. They weren’t just seeking knowledge; they were intent on worship, on offering their lives to the object of their worship. They weren’t casual sightseers, coming to inspect or gawk at what they saw. They were pilgrims, devoted to seeking God in response to His guidance and leading.

As the Magi left, they received guidance from God that protected them and sent them back along a different route. On the way to Judea, they had a story of being on the quest to discover God’s chosen One, to search out the truth, of seeking the eternal, planting seeds for others to follow.

On the way home, they had a story of finding the fulfillment of the prophecies, of joy, of discovering eternal truth in a child born to a virgin, of God’s intimate guidance and protection, planting new seeds in new lives as they shared their story.

What grabs your attention in the Magi’s story?

What direction are you traveling? Are you seeking spiritual truth?

What are you willing to do to find spiritual truth?

Who do you go to for help when you need spiritual direction?

Have you accepted Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises and prophecies?

Having found Him, are you satisfied with God’s answer to the longing for the eternal in your heart? Or are you continuing to dabble in other philosophies and religions?

What gifts are you giving Him as an act of worship? What level of devotion do your gifts reflect?

How is worshiping the Christ child changing you?

What stories are you telling others as you journey? How are you pointing them to Jesus?

To view the worship celebration related to this study, go to http://www.touchandchange.com/artman/publish/article_1572.shtml

Missing the Crib

Based on Matthew 2:1-18

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born….Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared….When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.—Matthew 2:3, 4, 7, 16

Have you ever missed the crib? I’m not using missed as in feeling sentimental, experiencing a sense of longing or loss, about the crib. And not missed as in never meeting the infant God/man who was placed in the manger at birth, either, although that may be something for you to consider.

I’m talking about missed as in ignoring the crib, specifically the Holy One who was laid in the manger, overlooking the implications of the crib in living out a life of faith in Jesus. I think it’s easy to knock Herod when we begin thinking about missing the crib, but I wonder if we understand how easily we miss the crib as Christ-followers.

Consider that Jesus’ birth meant that God was intersecting human history in a new and unique way. No longer could it be claimed that God was far removed from His people. In Jesus, God came to be known as Immanuel, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus shared in our humanity, that we are of the same family, and that Jesus was made like us in every way, to the point of suffering when He was tempted, so that He understands our suffering and is able to help us when we are tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18) In other words, Jesus "gets it" when we struggle to live the life Scripture talks about, and He is able to help us live by the Spirit's power.

So, here are some of the questions that I’ve been wrestling with—

What are the circumstances in my life in which I am being tempted to live as if Jesus had never come to that manger crib? Where I don’t really give a rip about the babe in the manger, where I prefer to give in to the temptation to live my life as it the world revolves around me? Succumbing to “feel good” philosophies? To emotions like hopelessness, despair or anger?

Where am I tempted to live like Herod, misusing people to feed my own ego, instead of serving them? Taking out my emotions on them? Using them instead of caring for them?

Where am I misleading others, pretending to seek out spiritual truth, but only so that I can twist it for my own purposes? So that I can boastfully throw around Scriptural truth like the Pharisees without every humbling myself to the God who gave that truth?

Where am I mistreating others, attacking them with abusive or slanderous language—if not outright killing them by the sword—in order to protect myself or build my own case, instead of seeing others through His eyes and speaking words that build them up?

For me, these have been hard questions this Christmas season, not just theoretical, abstract questions.

Do I really believe that Jesus came to the manger to usher in God’s kingdom, God’s rulership over all creation?

If so, then I have a responsibility to live my life in a way that reflects His presence within me. Maybe it means actually seeking to live so that it is evident that the Holy Spirit is at work within me, shaping me, transforming me into the image of Christ. Simple things like being characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and oh, let’s not forget, self-control. (Galatians 5:22,23)

Do I really believe the angel’s announcement of “on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests”?

If so, then I have a responsibility to work for reconciliation in the broken relationships in my life. (Matthew 5:9)

Do I really believe that Jesus gives me the power to live differently and that my life will reveal what I really hold dear, what I believe?

If so, then I have to wrestle with my spiritual condition this Christmas as it is revealed not just in the words I say, but in the things I do. (Matthew 12:33-35)

Like us, Herod was surrounded by every opportunity to find out about Jesus. He ruled in Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish faith, surrounded by religious leaders and faithful people. But Herod wasn’t interested in the spiritual things.

Like us, Herod thought he had more important things to think about—he was caught up in the pull of power and position and making a name for himself. As far as he was concerned, other people existed only to serve him.

God’s plan broke through into Herod’s life through the Magi’s arrival. All of a sudden, Herod was aware that his ordered world was not secure.

In what way is God using unexpected circumstances in your life to get your attention? What is your response revealing about your faith?

How do you respond to Jesus’ arrival? Does His presence in the crib reshape your life, your relationships, your future? What difference does He want to make in your life and in the lives of those around you?

Or have you been missing the crib?

To view the worship celebration Bible study related to this article, go to http://www.touchandchange.com/artman/publish/article_1571.shtml

Count on It!

Based on Hebrews 11

What are you counting on in life? What do you think, hope, and believe will get you through? What is your firm foundation in life? What is most important to you, the thing you hold on to above all else?

One way to discover what is important to a person is to listen to how they talk. This same principle applies to reading and studying the Bible, so take some time to read Hebrews 11 in your Bible or at www.biblegateway.com (the link is found in the Web Steps list to the right). Look for repeated words or phrases as you read.

What did you discover as you read through the passage in Hebrews 11 for yourself?


Were you, like me, struck by the number of times you read the word faith and the phrase by faith?

I counted 23 uses of the phrase "by faith," plus another four uses of the word "faith" (v.1-Now faith is…, v.6-And without faith it is…, v.33-who through faith…, v.39-…commended for their faith…).

One thing I noticed was that each time the phrase "by faith" is used, it is followed (in every case but one) by a person’s name or a personal pronoun. It does not typically say “by faith problems disappeared” or “by faith circumstances changed” or “by faith life was easy and carefree.” Instead, the writer told the stories of people who lived by faith in the face of great challenges—people like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and his parents, Rahab, and countless others, many unnamed—which leads me to wonder:

What would it look like if my name—or your name—followed the words “by faith”?
Would your story look like any of the people whose stories we read in Hebrews 11?

Each of these people had challenging situations that required them to exercise faith in God, to live their lives based on who they knew God to be, regardless of the difficulty before them. Many of their stories are found in Genesis and Exodus, if you want to look them up and get the details. The thread that ties them all together is found in the first few verses of Hebrews 11—

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for….

What do you think they hoped for?

What do you hope for when times are rough?

What kind of hope do these Scripture passages offer? What hope do they offer you in overcoming the challenges you face today?

No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.—Psalm 25:3

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.—Psalm 31:24

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.—Psalm 33:20

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.—Psalm 33:22

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.—Psalm 42:11

What is the source of the writer’s hope in Psalm 119:43, 74, 81, 119, and 147?

What do you do to find hope from this source?

What difference does it make in your life for you to find hope in this way? How does finding hope in this way increase your ability to live by faith?

Living by faith, being sure of what we hope for and confident of what we do not see, is not a one-time event; it is a way of life, a lifelong journey.

All these people were still living by faith when they died.—Hebrews 11:13

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."—Romans 1:17

How does faith relate to the lives of those who follow Christ? Faith gives us courage to live like who we are, people loved by God, able to draw upon His Spirit and reflect His transforming work in our lives, in the way we treat others, in the way we rise to challenges, in the way we walk through difficulties.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.—Galatians 2:20

What does it mean for you to live by faith in the Son of God?

How is your relationship with Jesus changing you, transforming you, giving you power to live a life of selfless love and sacrifice? A life of integrity and obedience? A life of humility and courage?


The writer of Hebrews speaks of many others who lived by faith, who counted on God, who counted on His character and His word, who counted on Him to see them through. Are you one of those?

Are you on the journey? Is it time to begin? What words would you like to be written about you? Do you trust Him enough to take the journey of faith? What will it look like for you to live by faith today, this week?

By faith (insert your name and write your story here)…