5 Ways to Use Your ESV Digital Scripture Journal at Christmas

December 19, 2019 by: Crossway

This article is part of the ESV Digital Scripture Journal series.

Give the Gift of God’s Word

Looking for last-minute gifts that you don’t require you to get out and about? Consider the ESV Digital Scripture Journal this year and give the gift of a new way to interact with God’s word. Here are just a few ways to use it this Christmas:

1. Study the Christmas story.

Go in-depth with the incarnation story in one of the Gospels, adding in your own notes and cross-references when you encounter quotations from the Old Testament or references to fulfilled prophecies.

2. Plan a family devotion.

Select Scriptures, make notes, copy and paste prayers, and plan a Christmas devotion to share with family, friends, or a small group. Add in extra pages where needed to allow for room to add in lyrics to hymns you’d like to sing or passages from books you’d like to read aloud.

3. Record a Christmas prayer.

Reflect on the wonder of Christ’s first coming and write your own prayer to the Lord beside a passage like Mary’s Song of Praise in Luke 1:46–55 or the angel’s announcement of Christ's coming in Luke 2:10–11. Incorporate biblical language related to the incarnation as you meditate on the magnificence of what God has done in condescending to us.

4. Write out Jesus’s family tree.

Read through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 and write out a family tree tracing his ancestry back through history, making notes and jotting down references to other passages with more information about key people in his family line.

5. Reflect on favorite Christmas hymns and carols.

Write out the lyrics of biblically inspired Christmas songs beside the passages they borrow from, taking time to think deeply about the words and how they praise and celebrate Jesus, our incarnate king.

Need more ideas for how to use the ESV Digital Scripture Journal? Find some here.

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Introducing the ESV Digital Scripture Journal

December 05, 2019

Designed from the ground up for use with a digital tablet and stylus, the ESV Digital Scripture Journal is an innovative resource created to maximize the best of the digital Bible and print Bible experience.

Crossway is a not-for-profit Christian ministry that exists solely for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel through publishing gospel-centered, Bible-centered content. Learn more or donate today at crossway.org/about.