Family Movie Devotionals: Elf

Buddy the Elf has so much love for life. He loves Christmas, sugar, snow, toys, and pretty much everything else. But more than anything, he loves people. Whether he’s known them for a long time or they’re a total stranger, he makes friends everywhere he goes. Buddy loves people no matter what they look like, where they work, what color their skin is, or if they seem nice or not. Nobody has to earn Buddy’s love, he just treats people with kindness and grace. And while he does a lot of silly things that we should not copy, we can learn how to love people better by watching Elf.

For Christians, loving people is one of the most important things we can ever do. In the Bible, Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35). The way to show people you are a Christian is by loving them like Jesus does. No one has to earn the love of Jesus. No one should have to earn our love either. We should love people who look differently, think differently, and act differently than us. We need to love people who make mistakes and disagree with us. We need to love people we think are annoying, grumpy, and weird. These are the types of people that Jesus loved with all His heart.

Buddy the Elf decides to love his dad even though he’s on the naughty list, and that love changes his dad’s life. He experiences a joy and acceptance that transforms his grumpy heart into a happy heart. Jesus’s love changes lives, too. Jesus displayed his love best by taking the punishment for our sins when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. Even though we don’t deserve it, Jesus’s love can transform our sinful hearts into holy hearts. Love really does change lives, and we can join Jesus on his mission to love the whole world. So who in your life needs to experience Christ’s love?

These devotionals are resources you can use to teach your kids about Jesus! Movies have a unique ability to connect to and influence children, and we want to use this to advance God's Kingdom. These are designed for you to read with your children after you watch the movie. We pray these will be used to teach children in fun ways that they can easily understand. We hand these out at our monthly Community Movie Nights, where we show a free family-friendly movie (see our events page for upcoming dates).