The purpose of this devotional is to help prepare you for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. You may do this as your own quiet time, but we would encourage you to gather some family or loved ones to go through it together.

It’s just like God to orchestrate and do what needs done in the perfect, yet unexpected way. It had been prophesied and declared that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, the city of David. He could’ve been born in the human form months or years earlier or months or years later and not in Bethlehem, but the timing was perfect because there was a census issued by Caesar and Mary and Joseph had to go. How amazing that God would make that happen. As we see, they had nowhere to go or stay when they were there, but in obedience they traveled and while there they had the promised Messiah—Jesus, our Lord! It probably would’ve been so much more comfortable for them to stay in Nazareth and have the baby in the comfort of their own home and area. I love that we get to see them obeying not only the earthly law, but following the plan God had for generations before.

This might be the most exciting part of the story of Christmas—Jesus is finally born! He wasn’t born in a spick and span, clean and sterile hospital. He wasn’t born with all of his grandparents and cousins around Him. He was born in the city his earthly father descended from, in a barn with stinky animals and only His earthly parents. This foreshadows the way He would die later for us, an ugly painful, undeserved death—for us, that we might live a beautiful, special, undeserved eternal life.

The Savior of the world was here! The God of all the universe in human form. The hopes of so many people finally are fulfilled and the plan God set in place to rescue His people since the fall had blossomed! “Joy to the world”, “Glory to the newborn King”, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices”, these lines from popular Christmas carols are exactly how I feel about this exciting news! JESUS IS HERE! I would’ve loved to have heard the songs and declarations sung when the people waiting learned this. How can you see God’s work in your life being orchestrated in ways that seem so unexpected, but yet are so perfect? Thank God today for that and celebrate that Jesus’ birth means the start of the beautiful life we get to live! -Alexa Balsiger, Children’s Pastor