Daily Devotions
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Some time ago, a man — a man without much money — punished his four-year-old daughter because she was wasting a roll of gold, gift-wrapping paper.
He thought the paper was wasted because she wrapped a small box with the golden paper and put it under the Christmas tree.
The next morning, Christmas Day, the little girl took the gift and gave it to her father and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” The man felt embarrassed because of his previous day’s fury.
Sadly, he got angry again when he saw there was nothing inside the little box! Once more he heard himself yelling: “Don’t you know that when someone gives a gift, they usually put something inside?”
The little girl looked up with tears in her eyes and said, “But Daddy, the box wasn’t empty. I blew kisses into the box, and I did it all for only you.”
The father was deeply ashamed. He hugged his daughter and asked her to forgive him.
The story says the man kept the little box next to his bed for many years. That way whenever he felt sad, angry or depressed, he would look at the little box and take out one of the imaginary kisses his daughter had put in there.
It was a permanent reminder of the love his daughter felt for him.
In a very simple but significant way, every human being has received a little, golden box filled with unconditional love. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God, our Father, gave all of His love to us in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In our Savior He gave us a new life, forgiveness and salvation.
This Christmas — and forever — we who are saved are able to rejoice because of this great gift; we are able to be thankful for such a sacrifice.
Because of Jesus and all that He has done, whenever we feel sad or discouraged, let us turn to the Scriptures. In the Savior’s story, may we find a reminder of God’s great gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit’s encouragement for the living of each day.
THE PRAYER: Lord, give us Your little, golden box with the greatest gift of all: salvation in Jesus Christ, in whose Name we offer up this prayer. Amen.
Biography of Author: Today’s international devotion was written by the Reverend. Igor Marcelo Schreiber. He serves as pastor-chaplain of the El Divino Salvador School in Zacapa, Guatemala. In this country of 14 million people, Lutheran Hour Ministries-Guatemala uses Project JOEL, Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC) and Equipping the Saints (ETS) in its Gospel outreach efforts in Central America.
To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhmint.org.