12-Day Advent Devotional for FamiliesSample

Day 12 - The Child: Born to Save

As we come to the close of our Advent devotions, we finish where we started: remembering the whole purpose of Christ’s coming. Jesus is the child who was born to save the world. That’s why he “came into the world,” as the apostle Paul told his disciple Timothy.

This is the truth of truths and the wonder of wonders.

Jesus came because God, our holy and glorious Father, loves to love sinners. Above all else, the Bible celebrates his love. He is the one who first loved us (1 John 4:19), and He loved us when we did not love him, as 1 John 4:10 teaches: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

As we close our Advent study, we see that the Christmas story is about love. For the glory of God, the Son of God came and lived and then died for us.

Celebrating Christmas is so much fun—giving and receiving gifts, along with enjoying extended time and sharing traditions with loved ones. (Our family feasts on big cinnamon rolls on Christmas Day. Traditions don’t get much better than that!) Beyond these activities, all the love, warmth, and joy we feel and share is anchored in God and in what He has done for us.

The Christmas story is wonderful beyond words. But we’re not only to look back and marvel at it. We’re also to look forward. Because God has been faithful in the past, he will forever remain faithful. He was with Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, and he is with us—all the way to the day Jesus returns and makes the world right.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you that you love to love sinners. We confess that we do not deserve your love, mercy, and grace, but we rejoice that you are a God who delights to draw near to sinners like us. We ask that you would fill us full of your goodness. Thank you for the Christmas story; thank you for the encouragement it is to us; thank you for all you have done, are doing, and will do to save us. We rejoice in you, and ask that you would grow us as joyful worshippers of your Son.

In Jesus’ name, amen.