A Devotion for January 5, 2016

Tuesday: Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover (Luke 2:41; NIV).

            By every account, Mary and Joseph were faithful Israelite parents. They observed the Law of Moses—circumcising Jesus on the eighth day, making the appropriate sacrifices, and going to Jerusalem every year for Passover. Later (Luke 4), we’ll read that it was Jesus’ custom to attend synagogue every Sabbath. I’d bet that Mary and Joseph modeled that for little Jesus, too. The point is that Jesus learned from faithful parents who modeled and taught how to live out one’s faith.

            That’s something that every little one needs—parents who will tell them the stories of God, teach them to pray, line out hymns in worship, model for them a love for the God’s Word. You know, Jesus’ last command to His church was to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching. In some ways, the baptizing is the easy part, but it commits parents to a lifetime of nurturing and teaching the faith.

            May the Lord bless all Christian parents with the will and fortitude for the task!