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We hope you had a blessed Christmas season – celebrating our Savior’s birth with loved ones. As we start a new year it’s pretty common to think about building new and better habits – maybe you have already decided on a few things you would like to get better at in 2022.
Morrison Zion Lutheran Church would like to encourage you to build good habits in your family life when it comes to learning more about our Savior at home. Being in God’s Word as a family provides us numerous blessings – here are few to consider: it helps us appreciate how much we need a Savior, how deeply God loves us by providing us a Savior, and how God wants us to live as a family of Christians.
We can all remember family habits growing up – maybe some fondly and others less so – but we have to admit family habits influenced who we are today. God’s Word tells us “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” – Proverbs 22:6 NIV®.
While there are many habits you can build as a family that leave a lasting impression – we implore you to prioritize a family habit of learning more about God – His love, forgiveness, and guidance for our lives. A habit of being close to God’s Word not only influences how you live your life, but also impacts your family’s spiritual life in a way that has eternal significance.
You might be thinking – “this sounds good – but I’m not sure where to start”. Establishing new habits can be challenging but we’re here to help. Throughout 2022 we plan to send you resources and encouragement to help you build a stronger habit of being in God’s Word at home with your family. Maybe you have some established habits and resources that work well for your family today – we’d encourage you to share these with us so we can help share them with others. Some practical advice to get started. |
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1) Schedule 15 minutes for a devotion this week. I know we have busy family schedules so we need to be intentional about making God’s Word a priority. If we wait for “free time” we won’t find it – and what message does that send to our family about how important God’s Word is relative to other activities if we can’t make time for it? |
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2) How do I lead a family devotion?!? WELS free family devotional resources have you covered. The family devotions bring in God’s Word, apply it to a life situation, have family questions to discuss, and end with a prayer. This takes all the guess work out of knowing what to do. |
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3) Miss a week of family devotion? That’s ok – life can be challenging and we’re not perfect, make sure to set aside time for your next family devotion. |
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4) Did your family discuss a question during the devotion that you couldn’t answer? That’s ok – seek out God’s Word for the answer. The “YouVersion” bible app is a great tool to search the bible for topics and its free. You can also talk to friend, your parents, a pastor, or teacher about the question – don’t be intimidated by questions, it’s how we learn and grow. |
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Below you will find one of the WELS Family Devotions. You can find many more on the WELS website here. You can also subscribe to them and have them sent to you here. These devotions are great to use with your family. You can listen to the devotion together if you would like or have someone in your family read it. Following the devotion, there are age-specific questions to help connect with everyone in your family.
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Me First!? - Family Devotion |
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Link to view devotion on original website
Read: Mark 9:30-37
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They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Mark 9:30-34 |
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Me First!?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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“It’s my turn.” “No, it’s not. It’s my turn to pick.” “That’s not fair, you just had a turn.” “Fine, you can pick this time, but then I get the next three times.” “What? That’s crazy!”
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Gabe and Owen argued like this nearly every day. The brothers got so upset, they even started pushing each other before their father finally stepped in. What were they arguing about, you ask? Emptying the dishwasher. That’s right, they fought about the dishwasher because each boy wanted to pick the top part to empty since it had less dishes. In other words, they were arguing about who would do less work.
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That’s not all though. Gabe and Owen often argued about who did more chores on Saturday, who got the last glass of chocolate milk, whose turn it was to sit in the front seat of the car, and so much more.
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Does any of this happen at your house? Sometimes we get love totally backwards! Instead of loving other people like our siblings or our parents or our friends, we act selfishly and put ourselves first. When we should be loving others or loving God first, we are so quick to think of ourselves first!
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The disciples did the same thing in the story today. Jesus was trying to teach them about his great love—how he would suffer and die for them and for all people. But they didn’t understand what he was saying. Why not? Because they were too busy arguing about who was the greatest! Their selfishness kept them from seeing who really is the greatest of all—Jesus, who loves us so much.
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| May God forgive us for all the times we selfishly love ourselves more than we love other people or more than we love God. Thank God that Jesus suffered and died to take away those sins! May that humble love of Jesus help us to love each other just like he loved us! |
Closing Prayer:
Dear Lord, help me to love you and to love others with the same kind of selfless love that you have shown to us. Amen.
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The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.
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| Questions for Younger Children |
- What does it mean to be selfish?
- Can you think of the most recent time that you have been selfish?
| Questions for Elementary Age Children |
- Identify a way that people show a “me first” attitude at home, at school, or at their jobs.
- Identify as many ways as you can that Jesus showed a “you first” attitude during his life and ministry.
| Questions for Middle School and Above |
- 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” Explain what that means in your own words.
- Explain this statement: Being humble is not thinking less of yourself, but rather thinking of yourself less.
Hymn: CW 484:1 – Brothers, Sisters, Let Us Gladly
Brothers, sisters, let us gladly
Give to God our all, our best—
Service hearty, thorough, honest,
With a living love impressed.
All our duty, all our striving,
All our time to him belong;
Praise him, then, with true devotion;
Come before him with a song. |
Used by permission of WELS |
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