This post is a condensed version of a 7-day devotional series I wrote for a private Facebook group, the Grace Space. I’m reposting it here as a devotion for the new year.
Like the Wise Men who traveled so far to worship the Christ Child, we’re travelers even if we never leave home. We travel through time and experiences and emotions. We move through life as infants, toddlers, adolescents, twenty-somethings, young and exhausted professionals, wise and silver-haired men and women, until we reach the end of the days the Lord has numbered for us.
So, for this devotional journey, I’m picturing us as those travelers. I’ve chosen six words from the story of the Wise Men for us to carry in our luggage. Think of them as tools which we can apply to our own lives and New Year reflections: Walk, Ask, Listen, Rejoice, Worship, and Give.
First, read Matthew 2:1-12, and then let’s unpack our tools…
Tool #1: Walk
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:5-9
Health experts encourage us to track our steps, aiming for 10,000 every day. How do we get there? Maybe we park a little farther from the grocery store, take the stairs instead of the elevator, or go for a daily walk.
If you take daily walks, do you walk with a specific destination or do you wander? Do you sometimes walk only to get your step counts higher?
After my bionic hip surgery a few years ago, the PT insisted I walk X number of steps daily, increasing it by X number weekly. This was in February, and I live in Michigan where the snow drifts are sometimes mammoth. So most of my PT steps were endless circles around the main floor of our modest-sized home. I had a step goal, but I did not have a destination. I walked in circles, literally.
The Wise Men had a destination. They traveled far, perhaps they got a little lost or stepped off the path, but ultimately, they reached their destination. We know this from Scripture. They followed the star and found the Christ Child and worshiped Him.
What about you? Do you have a destination? Or are you wandering in circles?
Many of us began the new year with goals. These plans are one way to set landmarks as we navigate through the next 365 days.
As Christ-followers, though, we don’t have to set these destinations, really. We already have the ultimate one, heaven. Eternal life with God.
And while we walk on this earth, our path may be a little zig-zagged, yes. But we’re on a beautiful journey because we walk in the Light.
Consider & Listen
Listen and consider your walk for 2024: “I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light,” LSB 411
Tool #2: Ask
Asking questions comes naturally to kiddos. Why is broccoli green? Why do I have to eat it? What’s that? But by the time most kids reach middle school and high school, they ask fewer questions. Why? I think one reason is because we think we should already know the answers. If we ask, we might be embarrassed.
Another reason? Maybe we don’t want to know the answer.
When the Wise Men arrived in Jerusalem, they asked a question: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” Scripture isn’t clear how many people they asked, but word got to King Herod that these guys were asking questions about this so-called “king of the Jews.”
Then King Herod asked a similar question. Where is he? His intentions, of course, were not noble.
He probably didn’t ask the one important question, though: Is this the promised Messiah? He did not want to know.
Let’s not be like Herod. Let’s ask the questions.
In high school journalism, I learned to ask 6 questions when I went out for a news story interview: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Consider & Listen
Consider: These are great questions if we want to grow and learn and flourish! Something like this:
- Who am I? Who do I want to be?
- What makes me laugh? What worked last year? What didn’t?
- When should I retire?
- Where should I serve at church or in my community this year?
- Why can’t I get motivated to exercise or ________ (fill in the blank)?
- How can I be a better listener? How can I improve my fitness?
Framing your questions like this may be a new way to find answers you hadn’t expected. If you start with the 5 W’s and the H, you might discover something new about yourself as you move into 2024.
Listen: “What Child Is This?”
Tool #3: Listen
“After listening to the king, they went on their way.”
Evil King Herod had called upon the Wise Men to figure out where this “king of the Jews” might be. The Wise Men knew that King Herod was an important man. He was the king, after all. So they respectfully listened.
After they found the Christ Child and worshiped Him, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. Instead of listening and obeying the king, they listened to the dream-giver, God, and they obeyed Him. Beautiful!
Like many of us, I can be a lousy listener with others. I see myself as one of four kinds of listeners, depending on the moment:
- Pretend listener. I got good at this when I was teaching. I could be “listening” to one student and still hear another student’s conversation at the back of the room. Multi-listening.
- Selfish listener. I sometimes listen and wait for a pause just to jump in and say, “Me too!” or “Let me tell you what to do!” Ugh.
- Active listener. This is the good stuff. This is conscious listening without butting in except to say things like “go on” or “really?” I’m working on doing this more.
- Heart listener. The richest kind of listening when we hear the words but also notice body language and subtext. This often happens when we listen in silence. I’m asking the Lord to help me do this more.
I can also sometimes be a lousy listener with God.
Read Isaiah 55:2-3.
“Listen diligently to me . . Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” (ESV)
And where do we hear the Lord speak? His Word. Thanks be to God!
Consider & Listen
Consider: What about you? Are you a good listener? Do you know someone who is a good listener? What can you learn from her/him?
Listen: “Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens” (LSB 589) (If you have time, watch this YouTube video that shares about the hymn writer.)
Tool #4: Rejoice!
As an English teacher, I cautioned students about overusing the exclamation mark. Save it for truly surprising or shocking statements, I’d say. And never use more than one. But the millennials often prefer to use more than one exclamation mark. They see the lack of an exclamation mark as grumpy, according to one source. On the other hand, baby boomers like me see multiple exclamation marks as screaming or shrieking.
I agree!!!! I do have to admit that in a text message, when I don’t insert an exclamation point after saying “thanks,” for example, it feels wimpy, weak, and half-hearted.
- Thanks.
- Thanks!
- Thanks!!
See what I mean?
So, when I read Matthew 2:10, I wonder: perhaps I’m being a bit stingy with my exclamation marks.
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”
Matthew 2:10
That’s like four exclamation marks! They didn’t just rejoice. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. God wants His people to know how joyful these Wise Men were when they saw the star that was leading them to Christ. Finally! We found where He is!
Have I ever “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”? What would that look like? What would that feel like?
Christ-centered Joy
Feeling and showing are not what real Christ-centered joy is all about, though. I can’t always trust my feelings, but I can always trust God’s Word.
Even in the hard times, we can be joyful and rejoice. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
James 1:2-3
Me? Sometimes I feel so joyful I want to show it. Kick up my heels! Roar with laughter. Clap my hands in church! When I’m outside of church too, I want my joy to be contagious. I want my joy to be real joy that flows from a thankful heart.
The beautiful thing is I don’t have to “oomph” my way to that joy, though. In fact, I can’t “oomph” my way to that joy. It’s been given to me. A gift.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
That’s my prayer for you too. Immanuel, God with you. Rejoice!
Consider & Listen
Consider: What does rejoicing look like to you?
Listen: “Rejoice, Rejoice This Happy Morn” LSB 391
Tool #5: Worship
“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.”
Matthew 2:11
Holy Scripture doesn’t give us much detail about this scene with the Wise Men and their magnificent visit to worship the Child in Bethlehem. Perhaps that’s because the focus of this entire passage is not the Wise Men. It’s on the One they came to worship. Their worship — their posture, bowing down — pointed to Jesus. These men were led to worship this very Child and they did just that. No questions asked.
A Posture of Worship
So what about me? What does my posture – physical and figurative – reveal about me and my heart for Jesus? Is it one of respect, submission, humility, and worship? Sometimes it’s not.
But thanks be to God because I can come to Him with my imperfect posture, repent, and receive His forgiveness.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”
Ephesians 1:3-8
We typically think of worship just as what we do on Sunday mornings. But when we think of Sunday morning worship, let’s remember that we are not doing this for God. God is doing all this for us! Our Divine Service is God serving us with His gifts! Then our lives can be a response to that great love.
Yes, worship is more than what we do on Sunday mornings. My entire life can be one of worship. Worshiping my Lord and Savior because of His great gift to me on the cross.
Consider & Listen
Consider: What are the ways you worship your Lord?
Listen: “Take My Life and Let It Be” LSB 783 (my favorite tune)
Tool #6: Give
Many of us begin the New Year with determination to do this new thing, whatever it might be. A habit. A new goal. An intention. We start strong. And then? Life.
I have a theory about why this happens. (Totally didn’t research this. It’s just my two cents.)
When we set intentions or goals, we usually think about ourselves. Of course we do. They are my goals. What do I want? How can I accomplish this? What do I need to do to be a better me? I think that’s part of the reason that by now, not even a week into the new year, many of our good intentions are already withering like an unwatered seedling.
One of the questions I’ve learned to ask as I dream and plan my goals or new habits is why? What’s my motivation for getting 8,000 steps a day? What’s my why for finishing my book? Is it for me and my personal health and growth because that’s certainly reasonable.
Goals as Gifts
But when I think beyond those three important people (me-myself-and I 
Let’s turn again to Matthew 2 where the Wise Men just met Jesus.
“Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
Like most gifts, these are given without expecting anything in return. That’s what a gift is, right? Something willingly offered to someone without the expectation you will receive anything back.
When I reframe my goal-setting with the idea that this is not for me, and it’s a gift for someone I love and care about? That goal becomes more than a list of things to cross off in my planner. It becomes an act of service, an act of love, even if it’s an imperfect one.
I can rest in this perfect gift and move into 2024 with the confidence that I am God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do something new, something old, something for someone else.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:8-10
Consider & Listen
Consider: What does it look like to use our gifts as gifts?
Listen: We Give Thee But Thine Own LSB 781
Pin this post for later!
