Wise Guys

December 14, 2022

You’ve seen it on billboards, church signs, Christmas cards, and other places during the season. “Wise men still seek Him.” I’ve got it on one of my own holiday shirts. It’s a great line! It indicates that, even today, seeking Jesus is the wise thing to do.

In a larger sense, it refers to the “wise men” or magi in the second chapter of Matthew. They followed an unusual star in a quest they thought would lead to a new Jewish king. They brought expensive gifts, hoping to start on the right foot with a monarch prophesied to have enormous power in the region.

It was a pretty big gamble. The source of the meaning of the star was likely scrolls captured six hundred years earlier in the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. Were they the only ones who recognized the meaning? If no one else caught the same meaning, perhaps they were wrong.

But the Wise Men came anyway. Even though the star miraculously pointed to a precise building, all they found was a lower class couple with an infant. They bowed down to Jesus and left their expensive offering.

If it’s true that ‘wise men still seek him,’ am I wise? Would I be willing to travel a thousand miles (on a camel) to follow a sign from God? How inconvenient will I allow seeking Jesus to be?

Maybe there are times when God leads in a strange direction. Maybe, when I get to where God leads, I don’t find any flashing bright light that says, “Yes, this is it!” Maybe I have to walk by faith, not by sight. Do I go anyway?

I do. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5