Tuesday, December 2, 2008

What's Wrong With Children's Devotionals?- Part 1

 I spent a long time looking for a children's devotional book that the children and I could do together to supplement our homeschooling.  I even purchased a few child devotionals that seemed interesting and easy to use.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed each time.  Something seemed to me to be missing.  I agreed with the basic premises found in the books (do not steal, do not lie, obey your parents), but the books seemed overly condemning and moralistic with little explanation. Most of all, the child devotionals I purchased did not seem to offer any advice of HOW the child was to accomplish the moral righteousness prescribed through its stories.

As I matured as a Christian, I came to understand what was missing from the child devotionals- GRACE.  I was learning firsthand of the importance of grace and asking God for an extra measure of his help in teaching my children about grace so that we can learn and grow together.

Although I want my children to be well-versed in the commands of our mighty God as he has laid out in his Scripture, I want all of us to avoid the traps of legalism or false self-righteousness.   The Lord has been gracious and shown me my tendency to pridefulness which would surely be made worse by any notion that I can be "good" on my own.

Thus began my search for children's devotionals and Bible study that we could all learn from successfully.

In subsequent posts, I will be sharing the books that we use for this important daily task.

What are your thoughts? Have you noticed what I noticed? Do you use a children's devotional? Have you found one that you liked? Please share. Let us know!


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