Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1–2
One of my favorite Christmas songs, year after year, is The Little Drummer Boy. This well-known Christmas carol was written by Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. She was inspired to think of a small, poor drummer boy traveling with the Magi, who had seen the star and followed it to Bethlehem to worship the Holy Infant.
Though the story of a little drummer boy is not in the Bible, I appreciate the lyrical creativity and gospel-centeredness of the lyrics.
It goes:
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give a King, pa rum pum pum pum
The same is true for each and every one of us. We have no gifts to bring. We can offer nothing to our King. The only thing we can bring Him is our worship. And just like the little drummer boy, we can “play our best for Him.”
This has nothing to do with performing, for our Lord would not be impressed by any performance we could give.
Rather, the way that we “play our best” for him is by doing what Paul tells Timothy in one of his last letters: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Earlier, he tells Timothy to “be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” We can’t perform our way into earning grace. Grace is a gift of unmerited favor. We will no longer live in shame when we strengthen ourselves in the grace that has been given us in Christ.
Psalm 51, the well-known psalm of David after he had sinned with Bathsheba, says “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
That’s all I have to give to Jesus this Christmas season. A broken and contrite heart. Yet I have full confidence in knowing that the joy of my salvation comes not from what I can bring, but who Jesus is. Though born in a manger, humble and lowly, He dwelt among us and lived the perfect righteous life none of us could live. After going willingly to the cross to suffer and die a horrible death, He rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit proving that His sacrificial atonement was perfectly completed once and for all. Rising after three days, He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and intercedes for us even when we don’t know how to pray.
What joy we can have this Christmas season!