Family devotions are important. It is necessary that families spend some regular quality time talking about God, His Word, and the Gospel. While I confess that is very true, that does not mean it is always easy to accomplish this on a regular basis.
This is something that we have struggled with particularly dealing with small children (4 years, 2 years, and 7 months). Originally, I just tried to read straight from the Bible and discuss the reading. This was not an easy tact to take. Our kids struggled to follow along and I struggled to know what to read. The majority of children's Bibles that I have seen, I honestly have not cared for. Usually they were lacking in biblical accuracy, and just boiled all the Bible stories down to moralistic lessons. Morals are good, but the Bible is about Jesus.
And so, nothing seemed to be a good fit. That is until we picked up "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is a storybook Bible written for young kids and yet, it gets it right. This is seen right away by reading the introductory story. I'll just quote a portion which sums up this work pretty well:
This is something that we have struggled with particularly dealing with small children (4 years, 2 years, and 7 months). Originally, I just tried to read straight from the Bible and discuss the reading. This was not an easy tact to take. Our kids struggled to follow along and I struggled to know what to read. The majority of children's Bibles that I have seen, I honestly have not cared for. Usually they were lacking in biblical accuracy, and just boiled all the Bible stories down to moralistic lessons. Morals are good, but the Bible is about Jesus.
And so, nothing seemed to be a good fit. That is until we picked up "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is a storybook Bible written for young kids and yet, it gets it right. This is seen right away by reading the introductory story. I'll just quote a portion which sums up this work pretty well:
"Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn't do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It's about God and what he has done. Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you'll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren't heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose). They get afraid and run away. At times they are downright mean.
No, the Bible isn't a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back a lost treasure. It's a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne -everything- to rescue the one he loves. It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life! You see, the best thing about this Story is -it's true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big story. The story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them...Every Story in the Bible whispers his name."This children's storybook gets it right. The Bible is about Jesus, and this is a great resource to helps kids see that great truth and help them follow the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation. And our kids love it, and its illustrations. If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, or spend anytime with children....check it out.
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