Today’s Reading:
Read Philippians
There are a lot of cookies baked in our house during this season! We love to bake them from scratch and put them in creative packages and deliver them to friends and family to celebrate the season. Want to know how we make these amazing cookies? We follow a recipe. The steps in the recipe help us to know what we need to make the perfect holiday cookie! Recipes are important, aren’t they? Recipes give us an example of what to do in order to bake a perfect holiday cookie!
Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi is very similar to a recipe. He included in the letter a lot of specific directions on how to live a life that was pleasing to God. He opened the letter by saying thank you because the Philippians had sent a gift to Paul. Gratitude is important as a Christ follower. Paul was a great example of showing gratitude. His letter to the church at Philippi was written from a jail. He was in prison as he wrote the letter. However, he was still grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel with the prison guards. Paul knew that God was using his situation to spread the good news of the gospel.
Paul’s letter included a poem that described who Jesus was. (Phil 2:6-11) Paul outlined the gospel so that the church at Philippi would be reminded of what Jesus had done for them and how important it was to follow Jesus’ example. Paul used examples from his own life as well as the life of Timothy and Epaphroditus to give examples of what living a life for Jesus looked like. The letter to the Philippians was like a recipe for how to live the life of a Christ follower.
Application/Prayer:
Make some cookies for your friends and family today! As you follow the recipe, thank God for the “recipe” that Paul gave us in Philippians for how to live a life as a Christ follower.
December Memory Verse:
I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.
Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:
- Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
- Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
- After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
- Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
- There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.
Other Resources:
December memory verse coloring sheet