The Word Became Flesh

Two weeks ago we finished reading the Old Testament with Noah and Paige.

Time to begin the New Testament with the birth of Christ and reading the only tidbits of his boyhood.  We have not read many of the stories about the life and ministry of Jesus to our children. We have read so much of the Old Testament that I just realized in the last month that we haven't shared a lot of the New Testament with them.

Of course we have shared about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, but we have left out a very important piece--His life on earth.

My children and I have much to learn from His life. He was the greatest missionary and we want to live like Him.

We need to read about His life so that we know how to love, how to be content, how to pray, so we know who we are following and where are we going and why? We need to know how to be a good friend and how to turn the other cheek with others hurt us, how do we forgive, do we really have the power of God dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit?

We need to know when to go to the crowds and when to withdraw with the Father.  We need the Bread of Life and the Living Water because we can't be good enough for God.  We can't earn our salvation by memorizing enough verses, going to church enough, tithing enough.  We can't earn salvation. It is a free gift of God--Grace!

So two weeks ago we start reading the New Testament and I am truly giddy inside that we are finally telling our children the TRUE stories of when the Christ child grew into a man like their father.  I can't stop smiling as we start to read about the first miracle of turning water into wine and the stories and the miracles go on and on.  I feel like a little kid inside as we share these stories of what Jesus really did!  Reading about John baptizing Jesus and it finally clicking with Noah that John is Elizabeth and Zechariah's son.  He remembered how God made Zechariah mute in the temple because he didn't believe Elizabeth would have a baby.  Noah realizes that this is the same John that leapt in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary came to see her, pregnant with the Savior of the world.  Maybe I am a nerd, but this excites me when the Holy Spirit is helping our son connect the dots of who is who in the Bible.

Last week, I get an email from a friend saying she knows of a Lenten devotional we can get our hands on.  We have never observed Lent until this year. We are doing a very simple family devotion for the 40 days leading up to the the Resurrection Sunday.  Guess what? The devotional starts with the birth of Christ and goes through His life and ministry! God knew me and my kids needed this!

Easter is my favorite holiday!  A time where we can celebrate that Christ paid our debt. He had to do everything for us. He had to be the perfect sacrifice because we simply can do none of it! Excited to spend my days remembering to be mindful of the Word becoming Flesh.

So go on and crack open the New Testament, whether it be your first time reading the captivating stories or your 100th time to reread the Good News, I pray that the Spirit would refresh your joy and thankfulness and put a desire in your heart to live for Him alone.