Going into this Christmas season, one of my sermon ideas was to do a series entitled, “A very cliche’ Christmas.” I thought I would title each sermon one of the cliches we see this time of year. And I think I was going that way out of jealousy. I mean, wouldn’t it have been cool to say that you were the one that came up with, “Jesus is the reason for the season?”
I will say, though, as much as I want to scoff at the overused cliches of this time of year and scream, “get something original,” there is one that has been bouncing around in my ever-increasing balding noggin. The cliche reads, “Wise men still seek Him.”
I spent several weeks in my morning dive going through the book of Proverbs. And there are many great lessons and reminders in the book of Proverbs. Many of them are common sense (which still escapes our world today…can I get an amen?). But the biggest contrast I found as I walked through the Proverbs was that of wise and foolish. I could spend page upon page outlining foolish decisions I have made or observed in the world around me (not anyone in our church of course (insert eye roll here)).
Proverbs 1:5 says, “Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.” In our life group, we have been going through a series by a pastor out in LA called, “Vital Signs.” In the series, he explores the idea of growing mentally, physically, emotionally, and of course, Spiritually. And in the first session, he challenged us to decide on one area we are going to grow in Spiritually. Since that point, I have been dwelling on this whole idea of continued growth, as opposed to being stagnant, especially as it pertains to our faith.
I don’t believe we stop growing spiritually. As Christians, I consider us wise. We have been confronted with the truth of the Gospel and chose to surrender to Jesus. In doing so, we also take on the challenge of continuing to grow in our relationship with Jesus. How will you grow this Christmas season in your knowledge of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, salvation, grace, hope, love, service, compassion, or any other topic of the Bible that interests you?
This morning in the Dive I talked about the shepherds. What the angels had to say to them, in a dramatic fashion, was enough to pique their interest to want to go see the Christ child. What interest of yours is being piqued today to want to dive deeper into your relationship with the creator God or the King of Kings? Don’t just let your interest be piqued, but go explore and grow. Be a wise man that still seeks Jesus.