When You Have Found Him

Why is there a Herod in the
story of Christmas?  Herod is the one who
tried to ruin it by killing the Christ child.

 Matthew 2:7-8 Then Herod, when he had privily called
the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he
sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child;
and when ye have found him,
bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

The wise men followed a star
that led them to Judea.  They naturally went to the capitol city of Jerusalem.  Surely the King of Judea would know where the
king they were searching for would be. 
Innocently they came before Herod and asked where the King of the Jews
had been born.  Herod was a wick man,

very protective of his role as king; he allowed no competition for the
throne.  After the wise men left in a
desperate act, he sent soldiers to kill all babies two years old and
younger.  As seen in the scripture above,
Herod made the statement when you have found him to the wise men. To this day
I m sure he wishes that he had found the child and worshiped him.

Christmas is about
searching:  the shepherds searched after
the angel told them they would find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying
in a manger.  Their response was to go to

Bethlehem and
see what had come to pass; the wise men traveled far in search of Jesus; the
soldiers searched for him in fulfilling the act of killing infants at Herod s
direction.

Christmas is also about finding.
Herod could not find Jesus.  The soldiers
could not find him. They were searching for the wrong reasons and did not find
him.  Do you search for the wrong things
in life?  Those things will never satisfy
you. We all search. We search all our lives.  We search for answers to problems, how to deal
with loss and loneliness.   Herod didn t
say IF you find him but WHEN you find him.

The wise men recognized their
personal need to find him.  You know your
relationship with God.  There is one way
to be right with him.  There is no
confessing to others; it s just you and God. 
What are you searching for?  The
search is really for HIM.  He is the
answer to all our situations:  HE IS the
deliverer of the soul; HE IS the maker of peace; HE IS the giver of peace; HE
IS purpose in life; HE IS the hope of heaven, not an empty darkness.  JESUS IS our search.  Whatever the specifics of your searching, it
is really for JESUS.  In HIM you will
find what you lack, find what you want, more than you would ever ask for.  Jesus knows our needs before we ask him; he
knows things we need and don t realize. 

WHEN not IF you find Jesus, it will be more that you could ever wish
for.

Growing up in the Surber
family we didn t get much for Christmas just one present. In 1959 when I was
five years old I didn t know what was under the tree for me. I would get so
excited about what I d find in the morning that I could hardly sleep.  There were eight kids and yet everyone found
something under the tree exactly what we wanted.  Daddy somehow found out; I believe he watched
what we stayed and looked at longer in the store.  I looked at an airplane.  When I got to the tree that morning, there
was the airplane, exactly what I wanted. 

It was more though.  It had lights
that flashed and when I opened it up it had army men in it.  I found more than I knew.  Later my brothers threw the airplane away;
the next year I wanted the same thing and in 1960, sure enough it was there
again.  Every day I trust Jesus, HE keeps
giving and I get more and more.

Herod never found Jesus; he searched for the wrong
reason.  His name is Emmanuel God is with
us.  With Jesus we have God and with God
we have everything.  Search for
Jesus.  When you have found him, you will
have found everything