by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child…

Explaining Christmas to Children

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16  KJV

Many parents are hesitant to explain the meaning of Christmas to children for fear they might make a mistake.  Here is the story that may be read to children to make sure they understand what Christmas is about.

The Christmas Story

In the Bible, we can read in the Old Testament that Isaiah predicted that some day a savior would be born.  The word “savior” is like the word “save”. The savior was to save the people.  This was predicted about 700 years before Jesus was actually born.  All those years, people were waiting for this savior.

One day, an angel appeared to a teenage girl who was not yet married and told her she was going to have a baby and the father of this baby was God.  She did get pregnant when the Holy Spirit hovered over her.  It was hard for her because in those days, if a woman got pregnant before getting married, people thought it was awful and caused lots of trouble.  She was engaged to a man named Joseph and people thought she had been unfaithful to him.  An angel appeared to him also and told him to go ahead and marry the girl named Mary.

Later on, before the baby was born, they had to go pay taxes in Bethlehem.  It was time for the baby to be delivered but there was no place for them to stay because lots of other people had gone to pay taxes, too.  They finally found  a place in a stable where animals were kept and the baby was born there.

Meanwhile, there were shepherds out in the field watching their sheep.  Angels appeared to them and told them about the baby.  They hurried to see it.  There it was!  It was in a manger where the animals were fed.

Later on, a star appeared to some wise men.  They followed the star to a house where the baby and Mary and Joseph were now staying.  They took gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  King Herod heard about the baby and thought it was going to be the kind of king that would take his place and he would no longer be king.  He ordered all little babies under the age of two to be killed!  He didn’t understand that Jesus was not going to be that kind of king.  An angel talked to Joseph again and told him to take the baby to Egypt to get away from the wicked king.  They went to Egypt.

Later, the angel told them when it was safe to come back.  They came back and the baby grew up helping his earthly father, Joseph, who was a carpenter.

When the baby was about 30 years old, He began preaching and telling people about heaven and how to make sure we can go there when we die.  Some people got really mad at him and had him crucified on a cross.  At Easter, we remember about the crucifixion.  

That baby was JESUS, the son of God that came to save us.  That is why we celebrate Christmas.  We are thankful to Him for teaching us how to be saved from sin and someday go to heaven.  He brought His Father’s love to us and wants us to love each other.