Advent Devotionals: Day 1

After the angel explained to Mary that she was with child by the Holy Spirit, the angel went and told Joseph “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus didn’t just come to be a good teacher who healed people, He came to be the Savior. If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, then you don’t know Him at all.

When I hear that Jesus came to save us, my immediate question is, “From what?” When I was six-years old I almost drowned. It was a hot summer afternoon and I was at my cousins’ house. The neighbor down the street had a pool and they invited us to go swimming. We threw on our suits and ran down to their house. We couldn’t wait to get into that water and cool off. When we got to the pool, my cousins ran and jumped into the deep end, and I followed them right in. But I forgot one thing, I didn’t know how to swim. Immediately I started to panic. My cousin saw I was in trouble and swam out to help me. I grabbed him and almost drowned him with me. Then an older kid slid an inflatable out to me, I grabbed it, and he pulled me to the side of the pool. That kid saved my life. Without his help, my life would’ve ended at age six.

What do I need to be saved from? My sin. Once I knew I was drowning in my sin, God reached out to me by sending His Son as the Savior. I grabbed hold of Him and He saved me.

Prayer: Father, I thank you for sending your son Jesus to save me from my sins.

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