As I was going through Matthew 2 this morning in my office I came across a note I took in Matthew class during school, more specifically on verse 11. The writer records that these wise men brought gifts to the young Christ which, according to my study, would be gifts brought to a physical king of the time. "Why did they do such a thing?" Is the question that came to mind... and then I remembered, the people of the day thought the Jewish Messiah was coming to establish an earthly kingdom (based on their misinterpretation of passages in the Old Testament such as Isa. 2, Joel 2, Dan. 2, etc.). These men brought my Savior gifts that they normally would bring to a man who was a great warrior, a leader of a large amount of land, and a man who they would call "king." I shouldn't be surprised at this though. After all, even His disciples made this mistake (Acts 1:6).
The good thing is they weren't correct! That's right... it is a good thing that Jesus did not establish an earthly kingdom! Because if He had done so then it wouldn't mean nearly as much. You see, Christ didn't come to do that (John 18:36) but what He did come to do means so much more. Because of His establishing a kingdom not of the physical world we have Him as our eternal leader (Dan. 2:44, cf. Rev. 6:10), not some leader that would pass away and would lead a kingdom that would eventually fall prey to another kingdom or shatter under its own economy. Because of His establishing His kingdom we, ultimately, have the hope of eternal life through becoming a member of that kingdom, His church (Mat. 16:18-19).
But the question arises, what gift should we give to the Christ if the gold, frankincense, and myrrh weren't the best we could give Him? I know one thing; no potpourri, no incense, and no tarnishable metal can ever top... OURSELVES. Those wise men weren't so wise after all, thinking that Jesus was an earthly king, but they had one thing going for them, they wanted to give the best to the King of kings. I'm sure that God loves when men give Him the physical things, because it speaks to their love for Him (cf. 1 Cor. 16:1ff) but what does it matter if we give Him every physical thing we can think of but never give Him the one thing that He wants more than anything, us to be His children and be with Him in Heaven one day (1 Tim. 2:4)?
Shouldn't we do the same as those wise men and give God the best thing we can ever give with one slight change, instead of giving Him only earthly things give Him everything and forever live faithful to Him so one day He will be proud to call us His friends (John 15:14)?