Rejoice! A Child is Born... BUT No Men Are Allowed

Over the years, I have gone to my fair share of baby showers. Each of them had lots of gifts, food, games and of course women. Female family and friends gathered to celebrate a child being born. We talked, laughed, and had a good time. At the end of each of these events, someone looked at the number of gifts received and declared the event was a success. We had, in our estimation, done all that needed to be done to prepare for the child that was to be born.

What is really interesting is the missing ingredient in all of these celebrations was the same. We had all of the trappings of a good baby shower, but we were missing out on a few wise men.

The original wise men are described as a group of men who travelled to Bethlehem from the far east. They were not summoned to Bethlehem by a paper invitation or card greeting. These men were moved by the spirit of God to go to celebrate the birth of the Messiah.

Matthew 2:11 (NLT) says,

They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The wise men gave us so much to consider when a child is born, but it seems we have forgotten everything except the giving of gifts. We declare that baby showers are for gifts and have serious attitudes with any guest who arrives without one. We forget that the child being born is the actual gift.

The wise men arrived to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to worship Him. Their purpose for traveling was not to give gifts but to be in the presence of God's gift.

We also say things like "baby showers are for women. What would a man do at a baby shower?" This line of thought is out of order. As followers of Christ, His life is our example. His story included the gathering of men to celebrate His birth. How then can Christian families exclude men from a child being born?

Adayinthelife:-)