Christmas According to Kids Part 2 — John the Baptist Knew - Thursday
TODAY’S VERSE
Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” (ESV)
When I was a kid, I used to always want to buy something special for my mom on Mother’s Day. With my sparkly pocketbook and exactly $4 in hand, I’d march into the dollar store (back when the dollar store was still uniformly $1 per item) and march back out with some, ahem, treasures. I thought they were special, but really, they were knick-knacks. Bric-à-brac. Tchotchkes, if you will.
A mother bear figurine. A big, fake sparkly diamond ring. A “MOM” tea towel. A wooden block with a heart carved in it. Real classy stuff.
My mom always received these things as if I’d bought her the finest gifts money could buy, because… well, they WERE the finest gifts my money could buy. Through the years, most of these things found their way back out the door in garage sales or donations (and rightfully so, no hard feelings from me), but one particular little gift got kept, still all these years later: a small sign that reads “Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom may not be something you do, but someone you raise.”
My mom raised six kids of her own. And as a children’s minister for 30 years in the same church, she has helped raise a thousand more kids. Each one of us who has been in the fold of her love and care has been treated as though we were an eternal investment, because we in fact are. It’s funny, too—so far, all of her own kids have either gone into ministry themselves, or married someone who did. Her hand in raising us has everything to do with the impact each of us has in ministries of our own.
Elizabeth may not have been the one doing the preaching, baptizing, or preparing the way for the Messiah in a very public fashion, but she raised the one who did. She and Zechariah must have done their due diligence as parents, not just to raise a son who knew and loved God, but who had the kind of spiritual backbone that could withstand significant public ridicule and spiritual attacks of the enemy. That’s not the kind of impact you "accidentally" have on a child—it takes intentional shaping and modeling. We would do well to remember that whether we have our own children or influence young people in other ways, we are preparing them for war. Satan is Hell-bent on their destruction, so we have to be Heaven-bent on their preparation. We need a generation of kids who are equipped to be bold, like John, to love like Jesus.
APPLICATION
Read Ephesians 6:10-18. What part of your armor needs to be reinforced? What do you need to build up in someone younger?
PRAYER
Pray this prayer today.
