Christmas According to Kids Part 2 — John the Baptist Knew - Wednesday
TODAY’S VERSE
Luke 1:44
“For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (ESV)
When was the last time you leaped for joy about something? For me, it was a few days ago. It wasn’t anything truly significant, but my husband and I were the winning team of a Christmas party game with friends… and we are both fiercely competitive. So when we pulled ahead, I jumped for joy, and may have also shouted something to the effect of “HA! TAKE THAT!”
I feel like the older we get, the harder it gets to remember when we responded to joy with leaps of our own (or the last time we “leapt” at all!). But the younger we are, the more we tend to respond to life’s triumphs like Tigger. My little boy jumps for joy when he wakes up from a good nap, when he eats a strawberry, when he sees his daddy come home from work, when he watches snowflakes fall, and when he finally spots me in hide-and-go-seek. There are lots of things to leap about when you’re almost two.
But we who are older know that life is not always bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun fun fun fun fun. We don’t feel much like leaping for joy when we receive a hard diagnosis, or see our friends get divorced, or glance at our stack of bills, or worry over our wayward child, or feel frustration in our job, or read headline after headline of depressing news.
What John the Baptist knew before birth, throughout life, and until death was this: Jesus is still good news worth leaping over. We aren’t unaffected by life’s sorrows and troubles, but our ability to speak the good news of Jesus is because He Himself is our source of joy to jump at.
Shortly before being murdered by a shooter at Virginia Tech, 20-year-old Lauren McCain wrote this in her diary: “Show me Your purpose for me at Tech, and on this earth. But, if You choose not to, I will still praise You and walk where You lead, not because I am selfless, or holy, or determined to ‘sacrifice myself for what is right’... but because You are the delight of my heart; and I cannot live without You.”
When Jesus is truly the delight of our hearts, our joy can be unshakable even when life isn’t. Jesus came for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He made you. He saved you. He loves you. John lived and died to preach the gospel of Jesus, because from womb to tomb, it is good news.
APPLICATION
How does joy make us stronger? Where do you need the joy of Jesus to strengthen you?
PRAYER
Ask God to be the source of your joy, and to give you opportunities to share that joy with others who need it too.
