One of the scenes we think about when celebrating Christmas is the coming of the Wise Men to pay homage to the newborn King. The truth is, they probably came a couple years after He was born. But the timing is not what I wanted to talk about.

Many Christmas sermons focus on the wise men and gifts they brought to the baby Jesus. Scriptures tells us very little about the men themselves, but we know what they brought.

I think it's interesting that we don't know their names, but we know what they gave. I always think it a little suspect when someone gives a large gift and then asks that their name be associated with that gift. On the other hand, it's clear to me that godly men and women who give because they want to honor God, like the Magi, don't care to have their names mentioned.

The gifts they brought were representative of the three roles Jesus would fulfill in His lifetime: The gold represented His kingly office; the frankincense spoke to His divinity; and the myrrh foreshadowed His humanness and ultimate death. Someone has written -- "They offered him incense as their God; gold as their king; and myrrh, as united to a human body, subject to suffering and death."

The gifts the wise men gave were local to their home region of Arabia. I believe this shows that the Lord will accept what is available to us as a gift. Unfortunately, especially at Christmas time, in our culture most of what we give to each other is what we have purchased either in a store or over the internet. How many of us, in reality, would be tickled and think it very special to receive something that has been made by the person who has given it.

The gifts the wise men brought before Jesus were given as a part of their worship experience. He had not yet performed even one miracle and He was seen as the child of a carpenter. Yet, they traveled a great distance just to bow down before this young child. They made their offering a worship experience.

As we celebrate Christmas, do we take time out to think about the King we serve and how He took on human form to walk among us before returning to His proper place at the right hand of God the Father? That He was a man, a King and a God - all rolled into one?

Do we offer to our Lord those things that are available to us, or do we hold back because we feel it might not be acceptable -- or enough?

Do we offer what we have as an act of worship? Do we truly bow down to our Lord and King as we struggle to get past what has become the hustle and bustle of the season?

As we think about Christmas this year, I submit to each of you that it would be good for us to reflect less on what is under our Christmas tree and more on the gifts we bring before the Lord.