A Christmas Devotional: 7 Short Devotions for the Week

A Christmas devotional is a short reading built around one verse from the Christmas story, followed by a few minutes of reflection and a prayer. Below are seven of them, one for each day of Christmas week, each about three minutes long, plus a longer reading for Christmas Eve and notes on using them with seniors or a group.

You don’t need a workbook or a quiet house. You need a verse, a chair and the four minutes before everyone else wakes up.

I grew up half in Germany, and Christmas Eve in my Oma’s village church was the one night a year the whole town sat still. That stillness is what a devotional about Christmas is for. The story does the work if you stop long enough to hear it.

Somewhere between the school concert and the wrapping paper, the story itself gets skipped. The seven below are small enough to finish before the coffee cools. All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version.

7 short Christmas devotions, one for each day

Each devotion follows the same shape: the verse, a short reflection, a prayer you can read aloud, and one small thing to do with it. Read one a day from December 19 to 25, or all seven on the 24th. They build toward Christmas Day, but start wherever you are.

1. The promise (Isaiah 9:6)

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah wrote this seven centuries before Bethlehem, to a people watching an empire close in. The promise came first, and it came to frightened people.

Prayer: Lord, you promised before you arrived. Teach me to trust the promise on the days I can’t see the arrival yet. Amen.

One small thing: Write down the one thing you’re waiting on this December, and keep the paper until Christmas morning.

2. The yes (Luke 1:38)

“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Mary’s yes is the shortest prayer in the Christmas story and probably the hardest. She had no idea what it would cost.

Most of what God asks of us comes without an angel: a phone call, a neighbor who needs a ride, a hard conversation. The yes is the same size.

Prayer: Lord, here is my “be it unto me.” I don’t know what it will cost, and I’m saying it anyway. Amen.

One small thing: Say yes to one thing today you’d normally put off.

3. No room (Luke 2:7)

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

God arrived and there was no room, because Bethlehem was full of people doing what the government told them to do. Nobody was cruel. Everybody was busy.

That is the most December sentence in the Bible.

Prayer: Lord, I don’t want to be the inn. Show me where I’ve filled the space you were going to use. Amen.

One small thing: Cancel or shorten one thing this week. Give the hour back.

4. Fear not (Luke 2:10-11)

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

The first word of Christmas is “fear not,” spoken to men on a night shift who’d just been scared out of their wits. The joy comes second. I find that comforting, because most of us arrive at Christmas afraid of something: the bill, the empty chair, the family dinner.

The angel doesn’t call the fear silly. He says there is news bigger than it.

Prayer: Lord, you know what I’m afraid of this Christmas. Say “fear not” to me tonight, and help me believe you mean it. Amen.

One small thing: Name the fear out loud, once, to God. Then read the verse again.

5. Kept and pondered (Luke 2:19)

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”

Everyone else in the story is moving. Shepherds run, angels sing, Joseph looks for shelter. Mary sits with it.

Pondering means holding something without needing to post about it or fix it. The nights my husband was deployed, I learned that a verse held quietly at 3 a.m. does more than one read quickly at noon.

Prayer: Lord, give me Mary’s kind of quiet. Let me keep this story instead of just getting through it. Amen.

One small thing: Read Luke 2:1-20 tonight with the phone in another room.

6. God with us (John 1:14)

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

John skips the manger and says what it meant. God moved into the neighborhood, in a body that got cold and hungry.

If you’ve ever wished God would just show up, this is the verse that says he did.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming close enough to be touched. Be that close to me today. Amen.

One small thing: Show up in person for someone. A visit beats a text this week.

7. Worship (Matthew 2:10-11)

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

The wise men traveled for months to kneel for a few minutes, then went home by another road. That is Christmas Day in one sentence: come, kneel, give what you brought, go home changed.

Prayer: Lord, I’ve come the long way to this morning. Receive what I have, and send me home by another way. Amen.

One small thing: Before the gifts, sit two minutes with the tree lights on and nothing else. That is the kneeling.

A Christmas Eve devotional from the Christmas story

If you read one thing this season, read the shepherds’ night, Luke 2:8-14, out loud and slowly.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The shepherds were working men on the bottom rung, out in the cold because someone had to be, and they are the first people told. The night shift.

Whatever your Christmas Eve looks like, a candlelit service or a kitchen with the dishwasher running, the announcement was made to people like that.

Prayer: Lord, on this night you sent the news to people who were working and afraid. I’m both. Let me hear the good tidings as if they were said to me. Amen.

Short Christmas devotions for seniors and for a group

The devotions above work for older adults as they are; many people over seventy learned these verses by heart in the King James wording. Reading with a parent or in a care home, read the verse twice, skip the “one small thing,” and end on the prayer.

For a group or a family gathering, take one devotion and add a single question after the reflection. “Where did you find no room this year?” after number three is usually enough to open a table. Keep it under ten minutes.

For a printable, copy the seven verses and prayers onto one page; that is the part people keep.

When Christmas is hard this year

Some of you are reading this with an empty chair at the table. My dad died a couple of Christmases ago, and the story stays true on the years you can’t feel it.

The Christmas story is full of people who weren’t fine: a pregnant teenager far from home, a man who nearly walked away, shepherds scared half to death. The good tidings came to them mid-fear and mid-grief.

If that’s you, take devotion four and five and leave the rest for another year. Our prayer for comfort and these Bible verses about hope are there if you need more.

Keeping a devotional going through December

Reading takes three minutes; keeping it up through December is what takes work. Three things that have held in my house:

• Tie it to something that already happens. The coffee maker, or the tree lights going on at dusk.
• Keep it short on purpose. Three minutes done beats fifteen skipped. Our short 5-minute devotionals follow the same rule year-round.
• Read it at night if mornings are gone. A bedtime devotion in December is often the only quiet hour left.

If reading is one more thing at the end of a long day, listen instead. The Still app has evening prayers and Scripture read slowly, with room to breathe between the lines, so you can lie back and hear the Christmas story instead of reading it. Download Still on the App Store.

If you’re weighing your options, our comparison of the best daily devotional apps says where each one fits.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good devotional about Christmas for today? Take Luke 2:10-11 (“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy”), read it twice, name what you’re afraid of this week, and pray the angel’s words back to God. That is a complete Christmas devotion in three minutes.

What Bible verses are used in a Christmas devotional? Usually a mix of prophecy and story: Isaiah 9:6 and Micah 5:2 for the promise, Luke 1:26-38 and Luke 2:1-20 for the birth, Matthew 2:1-12 for the wise men, and John 1:1-14 for what it means.

Not the verse you were looking for? Draw a random Bible verse →

Conclusion: Resting in the Christmas Story

The Christmas story was told first to people who were afraid and still at work. A Christmas devotional is a way of letting it be told to you again, one verse at a time, in whatever December you actually have.

Read one tonight. And if the house is finally quiet on Christmas Eve, read the shepherds’ night out loud once more. It hasn’t stopped being good news.