Happy Friday! Today I’m sharing a devotional for you to use with your family as you carve pumpkins this Halloween. It doesn’t have to be a “Christian” themed Jack-O-Lantern, but during the process of carving you can relate these elements to the transformation that takes place when we make Jesus our Lord and Savior. The following is just an idea to guide you on what to share with your own families.

Supplies: Pumpkin, carving knife, spoon, trash bag, candle

When we picked our pumpkin, we wanted one that looked good on the outside. Clean, no dents, in good shape. Does that mean inside looks the same way? No. Things can look perfect outside, but inside is full of nasty pumpkin guts and seeds. Kind of like people. They can look perfect on the outside, but inside they are full of sin and wrong choices. The Bible says, “man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart”. He can see inside people and know their true hearts. The Bible also says, “that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. None of us are perfect. We’ve all sinned. We are all a little icky on the inside from sin.

We don’t want to be icky inside, so who can scoop out all our sin? Who can make us clean like we are making the inside of this pumpkin? Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus is the only way to heaven and the only way we can be cleansed of our sins. He makes us new and clean like we’re making the inside of this pumpkin clean.

But why? Why do we need to clean out the pumpkin? In order for our pumpkin to shine bright and last a long time doing it, the inside has to be cleaned out. It’s our job, once Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior, that we shine bright. Matthew 5:16 says, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”. We sit our little Jack-O-Lantern out front so everyone can see it and how special it is. We want to do the same for Jesus. We want to tell others about Him. To show them what a special thing He did on the cross and how much He loves each of us.

I hope this devotional can be used for your family. If you have special Halloween tradition with your family that points back to Jesus, please share!

Thanks for letting me share,