For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11).
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules —that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey (Deuteronomy 6:1-3).
How encouraging, uplifting, and inspiring it is for believers to take time to read, meditate, and think about the beautiful, glorious, and grace-filled narratives we know as the Christmas stories.
They are found in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.
What a great tragedy it is that so many children have never read the Christmas narrative or Christmas story.
Here is a project specifically for grandparents during the Christmas season.
Let each of your grandchildren know that you would like for them to do the following for you: call you every day for eight days during Advent or the month of December. And during each call, read a part of the Christmas narratives out loud.
Here is one possible reading plan you could use. For children who are eight years old or older, read Day one - Matthew 1; Day two, Matthew 2; Day three, Luke 1:1–20; Day three, Luke 1:21–37; Day four, Luke 1:38–56; Day five, Luke 1:57–80; Day six, Luke 2:1–20; Day seven, Luke 2:21–38; Day eight, Luke 2:39–52.
For children, younger than eight, you might simply have them read shorter passages that you select from these same chapters in Matthew and Luke. Or you may even choose to have them read the same passage each time.
Let them know that you will give them one dollar, five dollars (or whatever figure that you prayerfully come up with) each time they call you up and read for you.
For many a grandchild that isn’t particularly motivated to read, the money prize has a strange way of suddenly causing them to all of a sudden become highly motivated.
Why is a project like this such a fruitful one? Allow me to share with you several reasons.
- The Word of God is Jesus and Jesus is the Word of God.
- When our children and grandchildren read the Word of God, they are spending time listening to and fellowshipping with Jesus. And for many a child, a grandparent doing this kind of project may be the only person in his or her life that is having them to read the Word of God out loud to them.
- There is nothing in all of the world that will bless and nourish their lives more than the powerful Word of God.
- Grandparents can have one more excuse to call and spend time in conversation with their grandchildren.
After they begin this reading project, I would suggest you begin to mail the prize money the same day that they start reading for you.
One way to do this is to see to it that you mail eight checks made out to your grandchild eight times.
Why do it this way instead of sending one check at the end of the project?
Your grandchild will receive eight different gifts instead one. And receiving each gift/reward can increase the excitement for the grandchild.
Picture your grandchild saying “Mom, did the mail come yet? Grandmother is sending me some money today for reading about Christmas.”
Imagine the grandchild opening the envelope and saying “Here’s my money from Grandad! He must think reading about Jesus and Christmas is important.”
And imagine your grandchild doing this for eight days coming up to Christmas, getting more excited about getting their mail than the day before.
Obviously, the great blessing to our grandchildren is not the money. It is having the eternal Word of God planted in her or his heart and mind.
Every grandparent can choose to do this project however they want to. You can certainly adjust the details however you wish. That’s entirely up to you.
This is simply a fun way to carry out a Christmas discipleship project that can have eternal fruit in the lives of your grandchildren.
What do you say, grandparents? Are our grandchildren worth the fruitful and fun effort?
Sure they are!
