A favorite hallmark of the Christmas season is the music we sing and hear throughout the month of December. Whether it’s a children’s choir, a favorite album, a symphony, or a choir presentation, we are surrounded by the sounds of Christmas. If we’re honest, we can often become complacent when hearing or singing lyrics – especially to the Christmas carols. The word “carol” means ‘song of joy or devotion’. One of the most beloved carols is “O Come All Ye Faithful,” which contains the refrain “O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”
But do we really grasp during this hectic, busy season that celebrates the birth of our Savior, what it means to truly adore Him? To cease from all else that distracts, and gaze upon His face? To seek Him with everything we have? The Wise Men sought Jesus and followed the star until they found Him.
As we consider the long and difficult journey of the Wise Men, we can look to Charles Hadden Spurgeon, in a sermon he delivered on Christmas Day in 1870. What a rich message for us even today!
“Something encouraged these Wise Men to seek Jesus. It was this, “We have seen His star.” The Wise Men did not regard the favor of seeing the star as a matter to be rested in. They did not say, “We have seen His star, and that is enough.”
For the wise men, it was a fair sight to see the cottage with the star above it, and to think that the new-born King was there, but that did not satisfy them. No, they went right into the house; they rested not till they saw the Child himself and had worshipped him. I pray that you and I may always be so led by the Spirit of God that we may never put up with anything short of a real grasping of Christ, a believing sight of Christ as a Savior, as our Savior, as our Savior even now.
See, then, how these Wise Men were not made by the sight of the star to keep away from Christ, but they were encouraged by it to come to Christ. O come, come and welcome! And let this strange winter’s day be a day of brightness and of gladness to many a seeking soul.”
“O where is Christ my King?
I languish for the sight,
Gladly would I fall to worshipping,
For He’s my soul’s delight.
Himself, Himself alone,
I seek no less, no more,
Or on His cross, or on His throne,
I’d equally adore.
The sages saw His star,
But rested not content,
The way was rough, the distance far,
Yet on that way they went.
And now my thoughts discern
The sign that Christ is nigh,
With love unquenchable I burn,
To enjoy His company.
No star nor heavenly sign
My soul’s desire can fill,
For Him, my Lord, my King Divine,
My soul is thirsting still.”