Monday, December 24, 2012

My Best for Him
By Lisa Boyer

“Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”
Matthew 2:11b

I wasn’t expecting to see him, not here anyway; not in the United States. But there he stood on a small stage at a local church. A boy from Zambia, playing a drum and singing a song I’d never heard before:

“Come, they told me (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)”

Ok, I’d heard it before, but never in this way… never by someone who so closely resembled “The Little Drummer Boy” himself.

“A newborn king to see (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
Our finest gifts we bring (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
To lay before the king (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
So, to honor Him (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
When we come”

I could picture the manger scene and this humble Zambian boy standing off to the side, afraid to approach. But he wants to give something or do something - - anything. So he comes forward and softly speaks.

“Little baby (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
I am a poor boy too (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
I have no gifts to bring (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
That's fit to give a king (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
Shall I play for you (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
On my drum?”

This boy presents himself before the Newborn King, honestly confesses who he is (“a poor boy” with “no gift”) and then he offers what he can, all he can: He offers to serve the King.

“I played my drum for Him (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)
I played my best for Him (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum)”

I had tears in my eyes as I listened to him play his best for the King.

We all come to Jesus just as that poor Zambian drummer boy. We have no gift fit to give a king, not the King, not the Newborn King who came to earth to live and then die for us! But that’s okay, because no gift is as valuable as giving ourselves and using what we have to serve Him.

I will never hear this song again without picturing that Zambian playing for the Newborn King…offering the only gift he has.

GOING DEEPER:
1.  Today, what gift will you give the King?

FURTHER READING:
Titus 3:4-5; 2 Corinthians 8:12; Colossians 3:23-24; Ephesians 6:7

Lisa has been married to Ted for 20 years and they have two teenage sons. Lisa administers Fresh Start’s Facebook and blog, and loves hanging out with and impacting teenage girls for Christ.
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