January 7
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him."
The wise men from the East were philosophers. They belonged to a large and influential class that included men of noble birth, and comprised much of the wealth and learning of their nation. Among these were many who imposed on the credulity of the people. Others were upright men who studied the indications of Providence in nature, and who were honoured for their integrity and wisdom. Of this character were the wise men who came to Jesus."
Desire of Ages, page 59 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
Time has passed. The shepherds have visited the new born baby. Jesus has been named at the temple. We have learned that there are honest and true-hearted people looking for the Messiah, and we have also seen that there are people just doing their job without doing their duty.
As a new chapter opens we are due to meet the people you would hardly expect to even travel to Bethlehem, let alone worship a little child. But there you go. The unexpected can happen where God has His rule.
That means that salvation is open to some unusual people. Perhaps some of the people you are praying for could be included among the list of those who come to worship the Messiah. After all, it seems that what matters is that those who come to worship the Messiah would be people who could be honoured for their integrity and wisdom.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
