JANUARY 3, Luke 1:5-17 

Before Jesus Christ was born, his cousin was born to be His messenger and point man. This man was John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth. The birth of John was an unlikely one, because his parents were old. What happened was this: An angel announced his birth to his father, a priest, while he was performing duties in the temple. But Zacharias was full of fear and unbelief and was struck dumb till his son was born.

True enough, Elisabeth his wife became pregnant! In those days, women who could not conceive were despised, and so Elisabeth thanked the Lord greatly for taking away her shame and blessing her with a child. Elizabeth must have prayed to the Lord for a child for years, and finally, God answered her prayer.

I’d like you to focus on verse 15 – it tells us that John would be great in the sight of God. You may know that John lived a life that was very different from others. He wore camel’s hair and leather; he ate locusts and wild honey. One can’t say he would be well-dressed or had great taste for yummy food. He was a simple man, even rough, in the eyes of men. And he did not have any great education and was not rich. It was not mentioned in the bible that he was handsome or athletic; neither was he “cool” in any sense of the word. So why was he great? He was great because he would live a life of obedience to God. And John had such a great privilege – to announce to the world the coming of Jesus Christ!

Dear child, do you know we have the same privilege of announcing to the world about Jesus? Of course, it is not about His First Coming. He has come to die for our sins and is now in Heaven. But we may be able to tell others of His Second Coming! Jesus will come back one day, in glory and power!

Some of us may prefer to be “great” in the eyes of men. We may like classmates to like us, to invite us to birthday parties... And some children do wrong things to draw attention to themselves. Dear child, aim to be great in the eyes of God, not men.

Thought: Aim to be great in the sight of God, not man.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the precious example of John that he was great for he was obedient to You and was able to tell the world of Jesus. May I also do so. In Jesus’ name, amen.