Daily Devotional for December 19, 2022
Who Was This Baby Jesus?
Ella taped the shiny red bow on top of the candy cane wrapping paper. “I think Mom will really like her present,” she told her big sister, Amanda.
Amanda smiled. “It is a beautiful scarf. She will love that you knitted it yourself.”
While Amanda was finishing up her own wrapping, Ella wandered over to the wood chest in her sister’s living room. On top of the chest was a papier-mâché nativity scene, complete with Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, a donkey, and two shepherds. The figures were hand-painted in reds, greens, purple, cream colors, and gold.
Ella picked up baby Jesus. “My friend Aubrey says Jesus was just some baby and that Christmas is all about Santa, cookies, and decorations.”
Amanda walked over to Ella. “Do you believe Jesus was just like any other baby?”
“At Sunday school the teacher said Jesus is God and man at the same time. But that doesn’t make sense. How could Mary have God in her belly?” Ella cradled the tiny Jesus in the palm of her hand. Who was this baby Jesus?
“It is confusing, isn’t it?” Amanda sat down in a chair and pulled Ella close. “Jesus is God and has always existed, even before the world was made. But when the world became broken because the people God made disobeyed Him, God knew we needed Him to rescue us, so over two thousand years ago, Jesus came to earth as a baby to save us.”
Ella still didn’t understand. “How does God being a baby save us?”
“Well, Jesus being born is just the beginning of the story. The main event happened at Easter, after Jesus grew up. That’s when Jesus took the blame for all our sins—all the bad things we do, or think, or say. He was punished for them so we don’t have to be. He never sinned, but He died for our sins and then rose from the dead.”
Ella couldn’t imagine taking the blame for her little brother when he did bad things, or being grounded for her older brother when he broke the house rules. “Why would Jesus do that?”
Amanda laughed. “Now that’s an easy question to answer. Because He loves us that much!”
-Bonnie Carr
How about you?
Do you celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas? He wasn’t just some baby—He is God, and He loves you so much that He became human so He could take the punishment for the wrong things you do. He came to save you from sin and give you eternal life. Have you trusted Him to save you? If not, trust in Him today so you can live with Him forever. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)
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