In just a few short days, the world will be celebrating the birthday of the most famous child ever born, Jesus the Son of God.  His virgin mother Mary was told by the angel named Gabriel that she would conceive Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.  He was to be named Jesus because, as we are told in the Scriptures, He would save the people of the world from their sins.  In reality, His birth was predicted from the very beginning of time when God told the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve that a special future descendant would bruise his head.  The serpent was Satan, the descendant of Eve would be Jesus, and Jesus would one day defeat Satan.  Throughout the course of history, there were many other predictions about the birth of Jesus.  These predictions included the place of His birth, the manner of His death, where He would be buried, and most important of all, that He would be raised from the dead.

        The first to visit the newborn Jesus were the shepherds of Bethlehem, who were told by an angel that His birth had occurred.  The angel was joined by a multitude of other angels declaring “peace to the world, and good will to all men”.  The angel directed the shepherds to the place where they could find Jesus, and they immediately went there to visit Him.  Following the visit to Jesus, they went back to their sheep, proclaiming to everyone they met that they had seen the Savior of the world.  There is no reason to believe that they stopped telling the news about Jesus far into the future, just like all believers need to be doing today as part of celebrating His birth.

        Another important group of visitors to the Savior of the world was the magi, otherwise known as the wise men from the east who followed a star to find the house where He was living.  Unlike the shepherds, they were highly-educated individuals, and they fell down and worshipped Him upon entering His home.  Jesus later told His disciples that God desired people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.  The wise men also presented gifts to Jesus out of their treasures, namely gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Jesus deserved the best then, and He deserves the best today, and there are many gifts we can give Jesus today.  Of course, because He is no longer on the earth, the gifts we give must be in the name of Jesus.  The best gifts we can give are our time and energy as well as our talents and abilities to advance His cause and His kingdom.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.