December 22
Bible Verses Covered
Devotion: This year marked a big transition in our family: kindergarten! As the first day of school approached, our girls were both eager and a little bit scared. What will school be like? No amount of visiting the school or talking with kids already in school could calm all their fears.
When we first read this Scripture passage together, their first question was, “Why was Herod so scared of Jesus when Jesus is so wonderful?” Today of course we recognize what a wonderful gift Jesus’ birth is to us, but at the time it must have seemed a bit scary because nothing like it had happened before. All Herod heard was that Jesus was a wonderful king! Did this mean that Herod couldn’t be king anymore? Herod’s fear of the unknown took over all other possibilities and caused him to do some bad things.
All of us, at any age, probably have a bit of Herod in us. When we can’t understand how something new is going to turn out, especially when it’s bigger than we are or somehow threatening, do we fight it? Or, do we embrace it in all the mystery that the unknown always has, trusting that God is in all situations and will have a gift to us if we just have the courage to trust and follow?
As our family talked about how scared and unsure we all were on that first day of kindergarten, we smiled because kindergarten has turned out to be so wonderful. At Christmas we are reminded that God gives us gifts we can’t fully understand yet, and sometimes those are the best gifts of all.
Prayer: Dear God, help me to have less Herod in me and more shepherd in me, and thank you for Christmas. Amen.
Devotion: This year marked a big transition in our family: kindergarten! As the first day of school approached, our girls were both eager and a little bit scared. What will school be like? No amount of visiting the school or talking with kids already in school could calm all their fears.
When we first read this Scripture passage together, their first question was, “Why was Herod so scared of Jesus when Jesus is so wonderful?” Today of course we recognize what a wonderful gift Jesus’ birth is to us, but at the time it must have seemed a bit scary because nothing like it had happened before. All Herod heard was that Jesus was a wonderful king! Did this mean that Herod couldn’t be king anymore? Herod’s fear of the unknown took over all other possibilities and caused him to do some bad things.
All of us, at any age, probably have a bit of Herod in us. When we can’t understand how something new is going to turn out, especially when it’s bigger than we are or somehow threatening, do we fight it? Or, do we embrace it in all the mystery that the unknown always has, trusting that God is in all situations and will have a gift to us if we just have the courage to trust and follow?
As our family talked about how scared and unsure we all were on that first day of kindergarten, we smiled because kindergarten has turned out to be so wonderful. At Christmas we are reminded that God gives us gifts we can’t fully understand yet, and sometimes those are the best gifts of all.
Prayer: Dear God, help me to have less Herod in me and more shepherd in me, and thank you for Christmas. Amen.