Dec. 19 Advent Family Devotions

Mike RiessFamily Resources

4nd Week of Advent – LOVE   (December 20)

 

Materials needed: handheld mirror, flashlight

We have learned that Advent is the season when we get our hearts ready to welcome the Baby Jesus into our lives. Last week we celebrated the JOY that comes from accepting Jesus into our hearts and knowing that our sins are forgiven!  This week, let’s think about the love that comes once we have invited Jesus into our lives:

Have one family member read: 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

“But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away.  The Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory. And it comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

As followers of Jesus, we hope that every day we look a little more like Jesus, through our words and our thoughts and our actions. We are never perfect, but if we stay connected to God in prayer, he will change us from the inside out, to look more like Jesus, to reflect his love and grace more every day.

Have you ever noticed a watch, or another shiny object, reflect the sun’s light onto wall or a ceiling? It can dance and bounce all over the place.

Take some time to play with the mirror. Darken the room or go to a darkened space and play with the mirror and the flashlight. Try to reflect the flashlight’s beam in the mirror onto something else.

Does the mirror have a light of its own? No, but it can reflect the light from the flashlight onto another surface.

That is exactly how it is with us, when we love and serve Jesus. We don’t have lights of our own inside of us, but we can reflect His light (just like those mirrors) onto others. By our words and our actions, if we are acting like Jesus asks us to, we can show others his love and light by reflecting it onto them.

Take some time to play with the mirror and the flashlight and talk about ways -real ways - that you can reflect Jesus to the world around you this week.