the Light of the world, an advent devotion

Gather your family (or class), a dark room & a candle!

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2

This was written nearly 800 years before the birth of Jesus!  God planned for Jesus to be born in this little town of Bethlehem. That star above a little known town was just a small glimpse of an everlasting light, Jesus, who was bringing with Him salvation.

The darkness that surrounded us before we lit the candle is what life is like without Jesus. Darkness often represents evil, or sin.  Jesus is the light of the world.  He is not one of many lights; he is the only “light” that can take away our darkness of sin.

The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Each of us is born a sinner.  That means that no one had to teach us to do wrong things like lie, cheat, or think of ourselves before others.  We were certainly born able to do that!  It is for that darkness – our sin – that Jesus was born, died, and rose again to bring salvation.

Jesus tells us himself in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  When we trust Jesus as our Savior, and follow him, the darkness fades away; He forgives our sins. Jesus points us always to his (and our) heavenly Father. 

We are to be a light too!

In Matthew 5:14 -16 Jesus says that if we follow him, THE light of the world, that we are also to be a light shining before others! Imagine Jesus as the sun and we are the moon.  The moon doesn’t shine on its own.  The moon reflects the light of the sun. 

This Christmas, and always, we should be reflecting Jesus, pointing others to our heavenly Father too!

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas let's focus on the one true light of the world. That star that was shining bright in Bethlehem for all of the world to see - it was shining on the Savior of the world, the light of the world. 

After Sunday morning...

After your time serving on Sunday morning, whether holding babies, building blocks, or teaching Biblical truths...PRAY!

I have found that Sunday afternoons were always the best time for me to pray for the children and families that I had just been with. Their needs, sweet faces are still fresh. Be the teacher who prays. You could be the only one who is praying for a particular child.

Take a prayer journal with you each week, record their needs, requests, praises...and follow up. You may be able to point out where God has answered a prayer too!

You are praying to the God who loves you enough and powerful enough to do more than we could ever ask or imagine! Pray.

A Sunday morning thought, singing bad theology

If you are happy and you know it clap your hands!! 

And you know I will - nothing wrong with this song. 

We go for fun, we go for upbeat, we sometimes teach bad theology through the songs we sing.
Yes, even a few of those age old songs we loved to sing as a child... because certainly as Christians we will be inright outright upright downright happy all the time! Really?
For Sunday mornings worship leaders are intentional in choosing songs that are truth about Jesus, and sincere words for believers to sing to an incredible God...should we offer anything less to our children in their worship/music time?!
My desire is to not make a list of songs with bad/wrong theology...but to have us think of the songs that we sing! Especially on Sunday mornings, let's not overlook the importance of being intentional with the songs we lead our children in each week.