Christmas will be here before long and with it the opportunity to focus deliberately on the birth of Jesus Christ. I know that many individuals and families will be looking for some kind of special reading to carry them through the holiday season and for that reason I thought I’d provide a roundup of recommended advent devotionals. For the most part these devotionals offer 24 or 25 readings, though some offer a few more than that. Take a look and see if there’s something here for you! (Okay, yes, Christmas is still a ways off, but it can take some time to make a decision, have the books shipped, and so on…)
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The Good Book Company is the undisputed leader in this area and has published quite a number of advent devotionals that are suitable for individuals or families and that each follow a similar structure. The Dawn of Redeeming Grace and Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair Ferguson are collections of daily readings for advent. In each of them, Ferguson offers 24 devotionals. The Dawn of Redeeming Grace draws from Matthew 1-2 while Love Came Down at Christmas draws from 1 Corinthians 13. Repeat the Sounding Joy by Christopher Ash is similar in format and focuses on the first two chapters of Luke; David Mathis’ The Christmas We Didn’t Expect draws broadly from the Christmas narrative. New this year is Jared Wilson’s Gifts of Grace and Lizzie Lafferton’s The God of Amazing Gifts.
From Tim Chester you’ll find a trio of options: One True Light, One True Gift, and One True Story. Each offers 24 devotional meditations along with ideas for reflection, prayer, and application.
Specifically for children, you can consider Barbara Reaoch’s A Better Than Anything Christmas and A Jesus Christmas. For the whole family, consider The Light Before Christmas or Prepare Him Room by Marty Machowski or The Adventure of Christmas by Ed Drew.
John Piper has written a couple of advent devotional works: Good News of Great Joy and The Dawning of Indestructible Joy each containing 25 readings of about 1.5 pages each. Paul David Tripp’s Come, Let Us Adore Him is oriented toward family use and has slightly longer devotionals of a few pages each. Ronnie Martin’s The God Who Is with Us releases in a few days.
Hosanna in Excelsis: Hymns and Devotions for the Christmas Season by David and Barbara Leeman offers devotionals based on hymns that begin on November 25 and continue all the way through to January 6. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s The First Songs of Christmas also focuses on songs, though in this case the songs of Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon. Philippa Ruth Wilson’s Brightest and Best is structured around the words of the best-loved Christmas carols.
That should give you plenty to choose from, and I hope there’s something that stands out to you.