Last weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to visit two of the most precious Biblical sites to followers of Christ—the place where Jesus was born, memorialized by the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the place where He was crucified and buried, memorialized by Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. While tradition recognizes these as the actual sites of Christ’s birth and death, scholars have long debated their validity. Personally, I don’t believe that we will ever know for sure (this side of Heaven), and God has good reason for that. At these sites, people are prone to worship the creation, rather than the Creator. 
At the Church of the Nativity, visitors from all over the world kiss a spot on the floor that someone hundreds of years ago identified as the place where Jesus entered the world. Hundreds of people line up every day to crouch on the ground and press their lips to a slab of stone.
And at the Garden Tomb, followers of Christ regularly leave locks of hair and other personal items in the place where it is believed that Jesus’ lifeless body was laid. 
Workers say that one of their primary tasks at the end of the day is to remove (with honor and dignity of course) the items that people leave behind for Jesus. If the gardeners didn’t clear it out, the small tomb would quickly become overrun with people’s stuff and inaccessible to anyone.
Workers say that one of their primary tasks at the end of the day is to remove (with honor and dignity of course) the items that people leave behind for Jesus. If the gardeners didn’t clear it out, the small tomb would quickly become overrun with people’s stuff and inaccessible to anyone. Don’t get me wrong. I understand the wonder and emotion one encounters in a visit to the Holy Land and to these holy sites. It is an awe-inspiring privilege to walk where Jesus walked and pray in the places where He may very well have breathed His first and last human breaths. But as Christians, we are to worship the Creator of the Universe and not His creation. The Holy Land and these precious sites should be considered “points of interest” to the faithful and not “points of entry” into the presence of God. As we journey to and through this land, that divine truth first spoken by angels more than two thousand years ago to the women at the tomb should ring in our ears and hearts.
"Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen” (Luke 24:5-6a).
He has risen indeed! Our faith is fueled not by the place from which He rose, but by the fact that He rose. Hallelujah!
With all my heart, I hope that those of you who desire to visit the Holy Land will have an opportunity to do so. It is an extraordinary adventure that has blessed me beyond measure. But be assured that to draw near to the Lord, you don’t have to travel thousands of miles to a far-off land and ancient ruins.
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24).
You have no further to go than the distance from your feet to your knees. Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, the Son of God, God Himself, will meet you right where you are at.
“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).
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