Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: JOHN 1:12; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17; GALATIANS 2:20; 1 PETER 2:9 What am I? I thought as I stared down at my hand, now covered in words written in permanent ink. Cruel words, words that had been carved into my heart for years, now written all over my hands—they stabbed me, again and again, like knives in my heart. This can’t be who I am. I thought desperately. Lazy, slow, fat, short, stupid, weak… Every word stung with fresh pain when I looked at it. Insult after insult, crawling up my fingers and over my knuckles like ugly insects. Oh, God, no. This can’t be who I am. Where had the prayer come from? How had God come into this? God didn’t belong here, with this hand, covered in my failures; with this heart, full of bitter self-hate. But I looked out the window, over the bare trees reaching for the open sky, flushed pink with the evening sun. I was kneeling on the floor, crushed beneath the weight of the letters on my hand. What am I, God? This isn’t who you are, Becca. I blinked at the soft whisper in my heart. That writing isn’t you. That writing is what they think of you. It isn’t what defines you. I will tell you what you are. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are treasured… Above all, you are loved. Replace those words with My words, Becca. All that matters is what I think of you, what I say of you. Because I know you. And I love you. “Okay, God,” I sobbed. “But it’s so hard. These words—they won’t just go away.” By My power, they can. Slowly and painfully, they will leave as you replace them with My words. It won’t be easy. But I will help you. I will remind you. I will love you. I looked up, back out the window at the setting sun. I lifted my hand and looked at the words, feeling their sting. No. I picked up a red marker from the floor. I opened my hand and, right over my palm, wrote the words, YOU SAY. The red ink, like Christ’s blood, covered some of the letters of shame on my hand. A sense of calm that I hadn’t felt in a long time settled over me. And while I knew it wouldn’t be easy, little by little, the poison of the words of shame would give way to the peace of the red letters, of what God thought of me. I would let His words guard me from the sting of lies. God would define me. I am what You say of me. • Rebecca Roskamp • What letters of shame have you been carrying? Consider taking a moment to bring these to Jesus. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Psalm 139:1 (NIV) 

READ: MATTHEW 18:15, 21-35; COLOSSIANS 3:13 Have you been hurt by something someone said to you lately? Maybe you were left wondering how they could have been so insensitive. In my own life, I recently experienced a family tragedy. To make matters worse, one of my relatives said something unkind to me. I thought about how I should react. Should I just get angry and bitter? The verse Matthew 18:15 spoke to me: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” Instead of getting angry and complaining, I decided to let my relative know how I felt. Since we live far away from each other, I texted her. I simply let her know that, even though I assumed she had no intention of hurting me, I felt hurt when I heard what she said. We should instead pray about God’s will for my family. She realized her mistake and stopped all those unkind remarks! In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus tells a parable of a servant who owes a large debt to his master, but his master has mercy on him and forgives the whole thing! But then, this servant acts unmercifully, attacking a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller debt. Jesus calls us to be merciful and show grace to others. God has forgiven our sins, and so we should forgive others. I know that sometimes I say wrong things too, and God has forgiven me. I could have lashed out at my relative, but instead I chose to give her grace because God has shown me grace. We all need the grace of God, and I was glad this matter was resolved in a peaceful way. It’s important to direct our focus on the grace of God and what He has done for us, and not on the people who have hurt us. For all we know, they may have already confessed their sin to God and received His forgiveness for what they did to us! In Ephesians 4:32, Paul says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Let us think more about Jesus and His love and sacrifice for us. • Kelly Choy • Have you ever told someone that their words hurt you? How did it go? • Can you think of a time you said something you regretted? God has so much mercy on us, and through Jesus’s death and resurrection, He has already made the way for us to be forgiven. If you have the chance, consider apologizing to the person you said those hurtful things to. But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6 (NIV) 

READ: MATTHEW 2:1-12; LUKE 2:8-20 On the night Jesus was born, there was a lot of celebrating going on! And those celebrations continue on to this day—all around the world. In the USA, where I live, our Christmas celebrations center around putting up a Christmas tree and a nativity scene. On the actual day, we have a big meal and exchange presents. In Norway, they start celebrating on Christmas Eve. They generally have porridge for lunch, and one lucky person gets an almond hidden in their bowl. That person wins a pig made of marzipan! Then, church services start after the church bells ring at 5:00 pm, and afterwards people go home for a special dinner. In Poland, on Christmas Eve everyone watches the sky, eagerly waiting to spot the first star of the night. Once a star is spotted, dinner begins! This tradition is to remember the magi, who followed the star to find Jesus. They also have a tradition of putting hay on their dinner table underneath their tablecloth. This reminds them that Jesus was born in a manger. In the Gambia, they have parades at Christmas time. They carry with them something called a fanal. It’s like a lantern they make out of bamboo with white paper hung over it, usually in the shape of a boat and decorated with candles or lights. In Russia, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th. They go to church and then come home to a meal with twelve dishes—one dish to honor each of the first twelve disciples. In reality, it doesn’t matter how we celebrate Christmas but rather who we celebrate. Christmas is the time we set aside to celebrate Jesus: He loves us so much that He became human, died on the cross, and rose again to save us from sin and death. And that’s always worth celebrating! • Melissa Yeagle • What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Why is it so important that Jesus—who is God—became a human? (Hint: read John 1:1-17; Romans 8:3-4; Hebrews 2:14-15, 17) 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 (NIV) 

READ: MATTHEW 2:1-12 Three wise men, three kings, three magi—who were these people? The truth is, we don’t know a lot about them. But the Bible and history together do tell us a few things. To begin with, the Bible never says there were three. The only reason we say “three wise men” is because they gave three gifts, so historically, Christians have talked about three people. And what are they called, anyway? The technical term is magi, which is a Greek word referring to a certain group of people, possibly from Persia, who studied the stars and offered predictions and words of wisdom to rulers. When they traveled, they tended to do so in large numbers, so maybe a better title for the song “We Three Kings” would be “We Caravan of Magi.” God showed these magi a star that predicted the coming of a great King. As they traveled, probably for months or even years, He led them to Jesus, who would have been about two years old at the time. They recognized Jesus as the King whose birth had long been foretold. God opened their eyes to show them that this toddler was their Savior, and they bowed down and worshiped. These travelers from afar recognized Jesus as God before most of Israel, Jesus’s own people, did! This incredible part of the story of Christ’s birth shows that Jesus is fully God. The very stars proclaim who He is. Jesus is God, and because of His goodness and holiness, His handiwork cannot help but praise Him. His Name and His divinity are written all throughout creation, and if we earnestly seek Him, He will reveal Himself to us. Like the magi, we can join creation in praising our Savior (Psalm 19:1-3; Romans 1:20). • Taylor Eising • Why is it important that Jesus is fully God? Could His sacrifice on the cross have saved us if He wasn’t fully God? (Hint: read 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11) • Has God revealed Himself to you in any unexpected ways? What are some ways we can catch glimpses of God’s goodness in creation? • It can be really hard to wrap our minds around the fact that Jesus is both completely God and completely human. It’s a divine mystery that can only be understood through faith. What questions do you have about this? God invites us to bring all our questions to Him! Additionally, who is a trusted Christian in your life you can talk to about this as well? All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. Psalm 145:10 (NIV)

READ: LUKE 2:1-7; HEBREWS 4:14-16 Did you know that Jesus probably wasn’t born in a stable? If you take a look at Luke 2:1-7, it doesn’t say “stable” anywhere. We usually hear about Jesus being born in a stable because it says He was laid in a manger, which is where animals eat, and in our current time and place, animals live in stables. Makes sense, right? The problem is, in the time and place that Jesus was born, animals were often brought into a special room in the house at night to protect them from thieves and predators. Archeologists are discovering that most homes in the area were built with one small room for the animals, one larger room for the family, and one room upstairs for guests. The room for the animals even had large bowl-shaped indents in the floor, called mangers, to hold their food. Also, the Bible says Joseph had family in Bethlehem, so he and Mary would have been welcomed into a relative’s house with open arms. In that culture, failing to show hospitality brought an incredible amount of shame. When the Bible says there was “no room” for them, it probably means the upstairs guest room was full, so they likely stayed downstairs with the family and animals. So, when Mary gave birth, she was probably surrounded by family to help with the delivery. But the house was packed so full that the only place they could put Jesus was in the manger. Why does this all matter? Well, the circumstances of His birth say something very powerful: Jesus is human. He had a relatively ordinary birth for His time and place in history. He was surrounded by the people He came to save, right from His first moments out of the womb. Jesus experienced everything it meant to be human. Although He is also fully God, He became every bit as fleshy as we are, so that He could save every bit of who we are. • Taylor Eising • Why is it important that Jesus is fully human? Could He have taken our place on the cross if He wasn’t fully human? (Hint: read John 1:14; 14:6; Romans 5:12-21) • How could the fact that Jesus is fully human affect our relationship with Him? • As we study God’s Word, why is it important to understand the culture and history of the Bible? This High Priest of ours [Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)