By Julie Heath
I love going to the library because I like learning about new things—and reading books is a great way to do that. A few days ago, I found a book on oceans. It’s very exciting and shows me all kinds of sea animals! Scientists say that more than one million creatures live in the ocean! We don’t know details about all of those creatures, but this book does tell us about the ocean and some of the creatures that live there.
I have never seen these animals in person. Have you seen a sea creature in real life? I wouldn’t know anything about these creatures unless I read this book. I’m excited to be reading it!
My favorite book is the Bible. It’s God’s Word. God told a few special people to write down all of the words in here so that the people who lived after them would know all about God. That means us!
When the stories in the Bible were happening, we weren’t there. We didn’t see them in person, up close. But God gave us this book—the Bible—so that we would know all about him.
The Bible is like one big story. The beginning of the Bible talks about God creating the world. He created a perfect world and everything in it! But then, sin entered the world. Bad things happened and the world wasn’t perfect anymore. God was angry—he hates sin! It was very sad. But then, because God loves us so much, he gave us some happy news: he would send us a Savior to rescue us from sin!
The Bible tells us about our sins and the Savior God promised to send for us. Some people think that the Bible is just an old and boring book, but really, the stories in it are a lot like our lives today. There are people that lie and get into trouble. There are people who don’t trust God, and they get into trouble too. People get angry and fight. They are selfish and mean. You and I sin just like this. But through it all, God promises to send a Savior to free people from these sins. And he did send a Savior—Jesus!
God sent Jesus to live a perfect life in our place. Even though we are sinners, Jesus loved us. Jesus came to earth in love to live a perfect life, making up for our imperfect lives. Then he died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins that we deserved. But he didn’t stay dead. Three days later he rose from the tomb! Now, we are forgiven. We can be friends of God again! Listen to what this verse tells us:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16 ESV
Even though we weren’t there when Jesus died and rose again, we know it’s true because we can read about it in our Bible. The Bible tells us lots of other things too. It gives us comfort when we are sad, and it gives us joy when we feel discouraged. You can read the Bible any time you want—God promises always to work through his Word. This is what he says: “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it” (Isaiah 55:11 NLT).
Let’s pray: Dear God, we know we sin and do the wrong thing sometimes, but you still love us. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross to forgive our sins. He is our Savior! Thank you for giving us your Word, the Bible, to tell us all about Jesus. Help us always to keep your Word in our hearts. Help us to use your Word to tell others about our Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Editor’s note: Today’s devotion is adapted from the Dive into God’s Word 6 Part Family Lessons written to be used with CTA’s Dive into God’s Word line. The outline provides a great way to give families activities that will help them learn more about the Bible and especially about its story of our Savior.
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Editor’s note:
