Kids Bible Devotional for January 11, 2024
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Focus Verses
I Thessalonians 4:1-2 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. (KJV)
Jump Start
When all else fails, live the directions.
We’ve all heard the saying, “when all else fails, read the directions.” In our walk with God, we know our directions come from God’s Word. We also know that walking with God is more than reading or quoting verses. It’s living them.
My mom used to make this awesome chocolate brownie cake. She had a recipe, but she never looked at it. She just whipped it up by memory. When she passed away, when we repeated the recipe, it didn’t taste quite like hers. The ingredients and steps were so ingrained into her mind she had mastered the art to a perfect brownie cake.
The more we practice God’s commandments, the more we can master the art of becoming the child of God He wants us to be.
Today's Devotion
“Oh, I give up. This is too hard!” Tommy slammed his pencil down onto the kitchen table.
His mother slipped the dirty plate back into the dishwater. “What’s the matter, son?” she said, reaching for a hand towel.
“It’s this stupid math homework.” He slumped in his chair. “I just don’t get it.”
“Get what?” Mom eased into the chair next to Tommy.
“We’re working on word problems. To help us, the teacher gave us this answer key, but I can’t get my answer to match hers.”
Mom slid Tommy’s homework toward her. “Let’s see. It says, ‘Mark had 13 bananas, Charlotte had 12 pears, Theodore had 5 radishes and Amanda had 6 apples. How many pieces of fruit did the children have?” She looked up from the sheet of paper. “So, what was your answer?”
“I came up with 36 because that’s what you get when you add up all the numbers.”
“Ah, I see what you missed.” She nodded her head. “The problem only asks you to figure out how many pieces of fruit there are. And a radish is not a fruit.”
“Oh, I get it now,” Tommy said. “That’s tricky.”
Mom returned to the sink. “It can be, but you’ve got to pay close attention to the instructions. It’s kind of like living for God.”
Tommy furrowed his brow. “I don’t get it. How is my math problem like living for God?”
She carefully placed a glass on the rack to dry then turned back to Tommy. “In your homework, the number of radishes didn’t really matter. In life, there are all sorts of things that can draw our focus away from what’s important. If we’re not careful, we can easily get off course in our walk with God. That’s why God’s given us instructions in the Bible for how we’re to live. We carefully follow His commandments, we’ll do alright.”
“Okay, that I understand.” Tommy twirled the pencil between his fingers. “Now, if only I can understand these word problems, I might do alright in math.”
Wrap Up
We find in I Thessalonians 4:1-12 that Paul laid out a set of instructions that God wants each of us to follow. We’re expected to stay pure, treat our church family right, and make sure we keep a good reputation with those that aren’t saved. Pretty simple, huh?
So, how are you at following directions, especially those God has given?
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