This devo “Be a Good Girl”: A Good Friday Devotion for Young Girls is from a series of Good Friday devotions and is ideally appropriate to read to girls ages 4 to 8.  There are three more devos–one for tweens (ages 9-12), teens (ages 13-18), and moms, all to prepare our hearts for Good Friday, and, ultimately, Resurrection Sunday.  Please share!  Download the printable version here.  Please note that the download has my old website info on it, so if you’re printing to share, just write in the new website, please! 

“Be a Good Girl”:  A Good Friday Devotion for Young Girls

Have you ever heard a mom say to her daughter “Be a good girl!”?

Maybe this mom said it to her daughter when she was going to Grandma’s house.  Or maybe she said it to her daughter at the grocery store or when her daughter was not being kind.

When moms tell their daughters to “be a good girl”, what are they saying?  They’re telling their daughter to do and say things that are “good”, not “bad”.

This Friday is a special day.  Do you know what day it is?  It’s “Good Friday”.

It’s kind of a strange name because although it’s called “Good”, it’s a day that’s very sad for people who love Jesus.

It’s a day we remember when Jesus, God’s Son, went through a lot of pain.  He was hit and made fun of and beaten.  Isn’t that sad?

But Jesus wasn’t just hurt.  He had his hands and feet nailed to a big wooden cross.  Then he hung there on that cross, alone, and died on it for you and me.

Do you know why he had to do that?  The reason Jesus HAD to die on the cross was because, no matter how hard we try or how many times moms tell daughters to “be a good girl”, we just can’t be good enough.  We can try and try, but our sins, the bad things we say and do and think, keep us from truly being “good girls”.

Have you ever heard the words, “God is holy”?

Do you know what that means?  It means God is without sin and “set apart”.  That’s what the word “holy” means: “set apart”.  God has no sin and he is completely set apart from everyone and everything because of who he is.

But that also means that because we aren’t “good”…because we have sin, God MUST be “set apart” from us, too!  No matter how much we try to be a “good girl”, God must be apart from us because of how good he is.

It’s hard to be a “good girl”, isn’t it?  We can try, but we can’t be good enough.  And the sad news is, we can’t be good enough to be with God in heaven either.

But are you ready for the good news?

Are you ready to know why Good Friday is called “Good” even when it’s a sad day?

The good news is that, even though we can’t be perfect “good girls”, we don’t have to be!  You know why?  Because Jesus, was “good enough” for us!

See, God loves the people he created–including you!  And he loves us so much that he wants us to be with him!  He doesn’t want to be apart from us, even though his holiness keeps us from him.  So he sent his son Jesus to not only be our friend, but to die for us.

Jesus lived a perfect life…he never lied, cheated, or sinned against other people or God.  Jesus lived a life that was  “good enough” and then he did what we couldn’t do.  He died on the cross for us so that he could bring us to God when being a “good girl” wasn’t enough!

But Jesus didn’t stay dead.  He was resurrected: he came back to life again!  And he’s alive today, this very moment!  Isn’t that amazing?

So now, because of Good Friday, that day Jesus died for us, we can be with God forever if we believe in Jesus and follow him all the days of our life.  We don’t have to worry if we’re a good enough because Jesus was perfect for us.

Does that mean we can be mean and lie and do unkind things…and it’s ok?

Of course not!  What it means is that when we believe what Jesus did for us, we have a new desire to do what God asks us to do.  We don’t do it to get to heaven…Jesus is the only one who can get us to heaven.  But we do it BECAUSE when we love Jesus and trust what he did for us, his Holy Spirit is in us to live for him.

On Good Friday, it’ll be hard to hear what happened to Jesus.  It’ll make us sad to hear what people did to him and to think that Jesus had to die on the cross because of our sins, too.

But feeling sad about Good Friday is good.  Feeling sad will help us remember just how much Jesus loves us and that we don’t have to “be a good girl”.  Jesus was good in our place!  And when we treasure that in our hearts, we can celebrate Easter even more!

So the next time you hear someone say “Be a good girl!”, think about Jesus.  Remember how much he loves you and how he was “good” in your place.  Then trust him with your whole heart.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  John 3:16-17 ESV

Prayer:  God, Thank you that I don’t have to work hard to be a “good girl” to get to heaven because Jesus was “good” in my place.   Help me remember Jesus’ love for me and that he died on the cross for me.  Help me love him even more as I hear the Good Friday story and to be thankful for Jesus.  Amen.

To download the printable version of this devo, click here!