“Behold, the half was not told me.” When the Queen of Sheba experienced the vast array of Solomon’s achievements and wisdom, she was utterly astounded (1 Kings 10:7). She had found an incomparable king, and the expense required to see him seemed as nothing to her.

“Behold, the half was not told me.” If we could put words in the mouths of the wise men, I imagine this is exactly what they would say. They, like the Queen of Sheba, left behind the comforts of royalty in a foreign land to follow the trail of a Wise One they knew hardly anything about. But they came, and what they discovered was worth the long journey, the expense of the gifts, and the run-in with a foreign king. The baby they found was incomparable, for He was God Himself made flesh.

These wise men knew merely of a star announcing the birth of a great king, perhaps the one whom their predecessor Daniel had spoken of. With only that knowledge, they set out on a journey to find Him. Their resolve and longing to know Him puts us to shame. In the place of a star, we have the entirety of scripture, passage after passage describing His beauty and character. We have the very details of His life lived in perfect union with the Father. We have his last words, portraying absolute faithfulness and love to the very end of an excruciating death. We have His high priestly prayer in John 17, the very words He now intercedes before the Father on our behalf. And we have glorious–though mysterious—descriptions of His exalted state in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation.

If the wise men left all behind him and found him incomparable and infinitely worth of their pursuit and sacrifice, how much more should I deem anything loss necessary to pursue Him (Phil. 3:8)? Like the man who found the treasure in the field, the pursuit of Christ should be so all-encompassing of my heart that I would sell all with joy (Matt. 13:14). Even after an eternity of seeking to know this Christ deeper, we will still exclaim “Behold, the half was not told me!” That reality is worth a life-long pursuit, distractions cast aside, the world deemed loss, with the cry, only to know Him better.