The Gifts the Wise Men Gave

The Gifts the Wise Men Gave

by | Dec 20, 2015 | Giving, Relationships, Updates

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Although many give gifts to each other at this time of year, supposedly in honor of the gifts the Magi or “wise men” gave to Jesus, perhaps we can find a timely reminder in that story of the focus of those individuals who gave gifts to Christ.

We really don’t know how many wise men brought gifts to the young Jesus (it’s only tradition that there were three of them), where they came from (other than “the East”), or even when they came (the New Testament shows it could have been up to two years after the actual birth of Jesus when they arrived at the house in which he was living).  The one thing we do know for sure is what the gifts were that they gave to the young Jesus: “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, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).

The three types of gift (the origin of the tradition that there were three wise men) were all illustrious ones, and perhaps the most expensive, by weight, that could be given in that ancient culture. It’s easy to understand that gold was considered a gift fit for kings. Frankincense was an expensive fragrance used in the making of incense offered in the Temple (Leviticus 2:1-2) and was thus a fitting gift to be given to a priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). Myrrh was another expensive fragrance which was often used in embalming the dead – as it was for Jesus (John 19:39-40). In that sense it was a fitting gift to one destined to die for humankind. Whether these symbolic aspects were realized by the wise men or not, the three gifts were all certainly appropriate for the king and priest who was born to die.

Although those physical gifts are not ones that we can give directly, the New Testament does show that just as the gold, frankincense and myrrh had symbolic associations, if we choose, we too can offer things in our own lives that are associated with the same gifts. 

Faith: 1 Peter 1:7 tells us: “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Rather than  gold, we can give the better gift of faith.

Relationship with God: The Book of Revelation refers to the prayers of the saints as fragrant incense before God: “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne” (Revelation 8:3-4). The incense offered to God on the heavenly altar is directly associated with the prayers that we can offer.

Relationship with others:  2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “But thanks be to God, who… uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.” Just as the pleasing fragrance of myrrh could be used in contexts of life and death, our walk before others can be a pleasing fragrance of life to those who can appreciate it. 

So we can give, if we so choose, the symbolic equivalents of the gifts the wise men gave to Christ. If we let it, the story of their gift-giving can inspire us to develop, through God’s grace, our underlying faith, our relationship with God himself, and our relationship with others. Even those of us who might feel we have little to give can give even better gifts – that may please the Son of God even more – than the gifts the wise men gave. 

*Reproduced from a December 2014 post on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org

The Gift of Light

The Gift of Light

by | Dec 13, 2015 | Giving, The Church & the World

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Here at TacticalChristianity.org we are always on the lookout for people doing good work that we can recommend and about which we can spread the word. One such project which is well established, but was new to us, is  One Million Lights.
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The project’s website gives two important statistics.  First, 1.3 billion people around the world still depend on kerosene oil for light. The second statistic is that kerosene causes 1.5 million deaths annually.   

​To see that second statistic in perspective, realize that far fewer people die from malaria around the world in a given year, and that the number of kerosene-related deaths does not include the huge number of adults and children badly burned through kerosene fires.

Another, less noticeable – but no less real – aspect of kerosene use is that it causes a number of respiratory illnesses. According to the OML website, kerosene smoke inhalation is equivalent to smoking four packs of cigarettes per day and is related to many cases of asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and cancer in households which are forced to use kerosene as the only source of available light.  Add to these very real health hazards the high cost of kerosene – which means that already impoverished families often spend up to half of their annual income on purchasing the fuel. 

Yet the answer to this little-realized, but widespread cause of death, illness and impoverishment is as close as solar-powered lamps.  That is where the One Million Lights organization enters the scene.  The project has distributed over 59,500 solar lanterns since November 2014, in 27 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.  A map on the OML website shows where these lights have gone and makes it very clear what a tremendous effect the program is having.

The amazing thing is how little these lights cost compared to what they give.  For every $15 donated to OML, members of a family somewhere are protected from possible death and injury, almost certain ill health, and increased poverty.  Giving an impoverished family half its annual income back is, alone, an amazing return on fifteen dollars.   If you choose to donate a light, you can even choose the area to which it will go – a menu lists far-scattered areas of need ranging from countries such as Liberia and Uganda to specific tribal regions and places such as Barwani and Kishanghar that you may never have heard of before. 

But wherever the light goes, it can make a huge difference in people’s lives.  As a Christian, you know that is true spiritually.  In this case, it is true physically as well. So if you would like to let your light shine in this way, consider the work of the One Million Lights project. A little light goes a long way.

At the Heart of Pride

At the Heart of Pride

by | Nov 29, 2015 | Problems

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​“The LORD detests all the proud of heart …”  (Proverbs 16:5).
 
As the old saying goes: at the heart of pride, just as at the heart of sin, is “I.” There is nothing wrong with a healthy self-identity, of course, or with the use of personal pronouns, but the point the saying makes is that we can get into a world of trouble by making ourselves the center of the universe.

In that sense, it is as we begin to elevate the personal “I” above others, and ultimately place ourselves ahead of God in our view of things, that self-identity morphs into pride and pride into sin.  Consider, for example, the words of the prophet Isaiah spoken against the king of Babylon. Since medieval times, at least, these verses have often been thought to be also spoken metaphorically against the  power behind that king’s throne in the form of Satan himself, but the identity of the one addressed is not as important as the clear picture of pride the words give us, because the picture applies wherever pride is found:

“How you have fallen from heaven,  morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,  you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart,  ’I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne  above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,  on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

When we separate out the statements of the one whose attitude of pride is condemned in these verses, we get a striking picture of self-identity gone terribly wrong, of the personal pronoun out of control:

“I will ascend to the heavens”
“I will raise my throne above the stars of God”
“I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly”
“I will ascend above the tops of the clouds”
“I will make myself like the Most High.”
 
Wrongful pride always involves the expression of one or more of the four aspects of self-elevation –  focus on person, possessions, position, or power.  In this case, we see excessive focus on all four very clearly.  The constant use of the first person pronoun is the first thing we notice, and although, as we said above, there is nothing wrong with use of the “first person” in speech, when we so obviously put our person  first – before all others – there is clearly a problem. 
 
The second thing we notice is the element of possession: “my throne” and the element of position. In every statement we see a dissatisfaction with present position and  a desire to be elevated.  The desire for position  is not the same as that for power. Numerous studies have shown, for example,  that office workers will often give up responsibilities and privileges they have –  accept an actual loss of power – to  gain a new title that gives them more status.
 
But power is also an aspect of pride which cannot be ignored.  There is a clear lust for power in all of the statements of the prideful one, culminating in the desire to be not only elevated, but also to be like God himself, to have God-like power.
 
Throughout  Isaiah 14:12-14 we see the focus on person, possessions, position and power that reveals  the heart of sinful pride.  Notice, too, that other than desire for power like God, there is not a single mention of anyone else in any of these statements  – every statement begins with an expression of self-identity and ends in a goal of self-elevation.
  
By contrast, think  of the many statements of Christ in his earthly life that reveal the very opposite attitude.  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and “… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10) are only two examples of this pride-less  state of mind.

When we look at other individuals in the Bible who were close to God, we find the same attitude.  Take King David, for example. David’s humility is often clear in his writings and the biblical books that speak of him.  His position as king did not affect his view of himself relative to God, and David often doesn’t refer to himself as “I” or “me” but as “Your servant” (Psalm 119:23, etc.)  – the very opposite attitude to that described by Isaiah.  

For the Christian, this attitude is a vital one. If, like Paul, we are to say: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), then the person whose identity we seek is not our own self,  the position we seek is  not an elevated one, our possessions are viewed as being for the benefit of others as well as ourselves, and the power we seek is only to help others.
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Whenever we realize that the ongoing focus of our thoughts or speech is on our own self, our possessions, our position relative to others, or some power we may seek, we should remember the words of Isaiah, and that it is precisely these things that lie at the heart of wrongful pride. 

Beyond Thankful

by | Nov 22, 2015 | Gratitude

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The Bible contains many scriptures urging us to be thankful – verses many of us know well and may even have memorized; but this article is not about being thankful, it’s about what we are thankful for.

Many Christians understand the need for thankfulness, but have never thought through the clues the Bible gives us that we can be thankful and yet not thankful in the way God desires us to be. 

​Take, for example, that famous Pharisee in Jesus’ parable – the one whose prayer extolled his own virtue and religious deeds while rejoicing that he was not a sinner like others.  Jesus did not say that the man simply bragged about his spiritual life to God – he said he thanked God for it:  “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). Clearly, the Pharisee’s thanksgiving was really only an extension or proclamation of his own self-satisfaction.

So it is possible to give thanks to God and yet to miss the point of true thankfulness because of what  it is that we appreciate. Consider some of the ways we can make this mistake in our own lives in terms of  the things for which we give thanks.

Do we give mainly give thanks for our physical things – such as our family, our friends, our health?

Do we mainly give thanks for our physical things – such as our job, our relationships, our environment?

Do we mainly give thanks for our physical things – our country, our home, our possessions?

Put the other way, how much of our thanksgiving is not for our physical things but for things such as the healing, guidance and help received by others? That is the opposite of the Pharisee’s prayer.

How much of our gratitude is expressed not for physical things, but for the spiritual gifts with which we and others have been blessed?

How much of our appreciation is expressed to God not for things, but for actions and qualities – for love and truth, for patience and strength, for all such good things whether experienced directly from God or in our interactions with others?

Finally, how much of our thankfulness is expressed along with praise of God? The Pharisee’s thanks were tied to praise of himself, and it is possible for our own thanks to sometimes focus on our successes and accomplishments.  These are valid things to give thanks for, but they are things that may only be a short way from personal pride.  The Book of Psalms constantly reminds us of the connection between thanksgiving and praise, and where the focus of that praise should be: “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30). “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4).

Many scriptures show us that we should be thankful for all things (Ephesians 5:20) and in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), but if we mainly give thanks for our things and our circumstances, we may have missed an important aspect of true thanksgiving.  While we may not be as far from real gratitude as the Pharisee in Christ’s parable, it is often profitable to think about what does move us to give thanks.  What we are grateful for can often be a window into our soul. It’s a window we should all look through occasionally. 

What Extreme Loyalty Looks Like

What Extreme Loyalty Looks Like

by | Nov 8, 2015 | Character

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​In the Old Testament Book of Numbers there is an interesting story about the prophet Balaam. This individual seems to have been a man who knew of the true God, but who was nevertheless a “wicked” man (2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, Revelation 2:14) who served pagan kings and who was eventually killed by ancient Israel (Joshua 13:22).   

Numbers describes how Balaam was hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the people of Israel.  If we have read it, the incident in which God miraculously caused Balaam’s donkey to speak to him to warn him (Numbers 22:28) is one we all remember about this “prophet for hire.” But there is something more important that we can learn from the story of Balaam that is easy to miss.

It is clear that one of Balaam’s chief credentials or skills was constructing curses to be used on the enemies of those who hired him.  Balaam evidently knew enough about the true God and His purposes for Israel, however, that the prophet repeatedly refused to curse the Israelites.  Three times Balak provided expensive sacrifices and urged Balaam to curse Israel (with considerable financial incentives to do so), yet each time Balaam delivered not a curse, but a blessing (Numbers 23:11), insisting: “…  I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth” (Numbers 22:38).  And what God told Balaam to tell Balak was not what the king wanted to hear. God firmly instructed Balaam “You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (Numbers 22:13).

In the course of delivering not curses, but blessings on Israel, Balaam makes an astonishing statement, recorded in Numbers 23:21. The NIV translates this verse “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them …,” but many translations take a more literal approach and translate this verse along the following lines:

“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him …” (King James Version).
“He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them …” (Holman Christian Standard Bible).
“He has not responded to iniquity in Jacob or gazed at mischief in Israel. The LORD his God is with them…”  (International Standard Version).
“He has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them…” (NET Bible).

But whichever option we choose among the possible translations of this verse, the message remains the same:  God was not looking at Israel’s failures and saw no disaster looming for them.  The remarkable thing about this is that God’s command to Balaam not to curse Israel, and the words of blessing that He did tell the prophet to convey, occurred after the people of Israel had turned to idol worship at Sinai, had complained continually (Numbers 11, etc.), and had openly rebelled against Moses and God (Numbers 12, 14). This is after we are repeatedly told “the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people…” (Numbers 11:33, etc.), and God had even said he was tempted to destroy them utterly (Numbers 14:11-12). Yet because of his love for Israel, God remained loyal to them (Deuteronomy 23:5).

This picture of God’s loyalty to Israel despite their disloyalty to him is a remarkable one of itself, and it is an important example for us to consider in our own lives.  Humanly, loyalty is a quality we tend to give only to those who are loyal to us, and it is a quality that is all too quickly withdrawn when others do not reciprocate.

The story of Balaam and God’s loyalty to Israel is one we can all apply in striving to be loyal to others despite their failings toward us.  God still disciplined Israel for its transgressions (Numbers 14:20-23), but his love included loyalty.  In our own lives we should use wisdom in dealing with those who show they cannot be trusted, but we should remember that loyalty is a clear trait of the character of God and a very real part of true forgiveness and love.