Love’s Greatest Gift

The tree is losing its needles. The decorations are looking dusty and dull. The crumpled wrappings are in the trash, and many toys are already broken or have lost their wonder. The days after Christmas are good reminders of how nothing material on this earth truly satisfies.

But what remains, what fills us up, is the love given—starting with God’s gift of Jesus to us.

The gift of Jesus coming to earth to give his life for us isn’t just a one-and-done event that happened centuries ago. It isn’t just a story in the Bible that makes us feel good to remember it. Rather, it is the fulfilment of God's promise that changed the entire course of history and the whole fate of humanity. Forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with our heavenly Father for eternity became available to anyone who would accept this gift. And it’s a continual, living gift that keeps changing our lives—every single day. Jesus is the gift that brings love and joy and peace and hope and makes our faith possible.

Knowing God loves you and accepting that love can change your life now through eternity. Whether you have followed Christ all your life or you are just starting to consider him, you will never reach the boundary lines of this love. You will never exhaust its energy, never find its term limits—they don’t exist.

God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life.

1 John 4:9 (CEV)

So, how do we live in this immeasurable love each day? How do we point our children to it? First, we accept the gift by asking Jesus to take control of our lives, confess, and turn away from our wrongdoings. Then we engage in all the disciplines that draw us closer to God and other believers: we read, study, meditate, and memorize Scripture; we submit to God’s will; we spend time with him in prayer and fasting; we meet with other believers; we serve and tell others about him. As we do these things, we experience joy and the love of God and discover God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

Want this new year to be a year filled with God’s love? Ask the Lord to show you how your family can pursue him in new ways in the coming months. He will continue to give this gift of love through Jesus.

PRAY

Lord, everything in life feels so empty without you. My family needs to be filled with your love. Thank you for Jesus. Please live in our lives. Amen.

TIME TO TALK

Conversation starter for kids: Provides you with questions and prompts to facilitate a time of applicable discussion with children to lead them towards knowing God and His Word more deeply.

Question(s): How much do you think Jesus loves you? How have you seen Jesus’s love for you today?

Apply: Take time to talk about just how immeasurable Jesus’s love is. This may be a hard concept for children to grasp, but you can break it down for them. Help them understand that Jesus will love them always—no matter what they do, no matter where they live, no matter how old they are.

KEEP IT GOING

Related passages: These additional verses will help parents expand Scriptural knowledge and place on the armor of God’s Word to tackle each day. Swipe to read the passages today.

Ephesians 3:17b-19

1 John 3:1