He deserves our treasures...

Matthew 2:11 - On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

This is hopefully my first of many ponderings on scripture to come as I go through a New Testament Survey course. Reading through Matthew this week, this verse above struck me. It made me think, do I bring my treasures to Christ? Not only that, but do I drop whatever I'm doing when I hear God's call in order to bring those treasures to Him?

Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi

We do not know a lot about the Magi - or Wise Men - that brought these gifts to Jesus when they were shown "his star in the east" and came to worship him, but thinking about these men as real people makes you realize some things: most people have things to do with their time, especially in this time that we live now. I don't think that is new to people though, so one can assume that these Magi had full schedules with responsibilities and things they needed to do. But when they hear of the "king of the Jews" being born and are led by God to go and worship Him and bring Him treasures - not only do they do just that, but they stop whatever else they were doing in order to do so. 

When I do hear God's call, (if I even end up listening to it at all), I have a tendency to finish whatever things I have already on my "to do" list before doing what it is that God has called me to. Especially when I feel God's call to bring Him "my" treasures (as if they are really mine to begin with, but that's another story for another time), I pause when the star is pointing the way and think "well, lets look at this month's budget..." (since God must not be big enough to provide for whatever it is He has called me to give to), and "let me be sure I pay all the other 'important' things first" - yikes, doesn't He ask for our first fruits?

Going through what God has led me through over the past few years, I have been (slowly) learning this lesson of giving to God. It is somewhat "ironic" that I have been learning that lesson and am now depending on the generosity of others and how God leads them to give in order to provide for our needs. But through this lesson, it has been coming more clear to me about the truth behind God's word when He says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). We know where the hearts of the wise men were at this time... And even more so, we know where God's heart is - after all, he sent the greatest treasure of all to pay our debts to Him. That fact alone should cause us (me heavily included) to desire to easily be open to wherever it is that God is calling us to give.