Every year about this time I’m asked for suggestions for devotionals for kids 8-14. Devotionals are books that provide a specific spiritual reading for each calendar day. There are indeed some really great ones geared to Christmas, girls, boys, moms, dads, grandparents, office workers, teachers, dinosaurs, science, etc.

I typically make another suggestion. Instead, invite your littles and bigs to read the Bible. If your little one can read a chapter book, they can read the Bible, but it matters where you start.

Read one chapter each day. Let your little read a little and you read aloud the remainder of the chapter and just chat. Ask and chat not “What does it mean?”, chat instead, “What does it say?”

24 chapters in the gospel of Luke in the 24 days of Dec. 1-24 (Christmas Eve). Dr. Luke opens his gospel sharing he has investigated the claims he makes and thoroughly researched the eye witness accounts so that he could share with his friend Theophilus. The narrative is stunning and many of the characters are historical as are the locations. Pull out a map!

31 chapters of Proverbs in 31 days of January. If ever there was a time godly wisdom was necessary among all the feelings of everyone, Proverbs pours out richly. When our littles hit middle school, we often made a trail through Proverbs. There is so much to talk about in Proverbs!

28 chapters of Acts in 28 days of February. The account of Jesus’ life in Luke, godly wisdom to start the year, then how the church was God’s idea and struggle is part of the journey yet with like-minded Christians filled with zeal (over-the-top enthusiasm) and wonder (a feeling of great surprise and admiration caused by seeing or experiencing something that is strange and new) and awe (a feeling of great respect, usually mixed with fear or surprise).

Easter is early in 2024. Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day with Easter Sunday at the end of March. So this reading plan would be good for littles AND bigs as we take the new church year calendar by storm and turn the page into a new calendar year. The Bible is enough when read and studied in Christian community. Let’s model it for our littles.

“Of all the spiritual disciplines, Bible Reading is the most neglected. However, of all the disciplines, Bible Reading is the most important. It is through our Bible Reading that all of our disciplines are informed. It is through the witness found in the Word of God that we learn about God, His and our nature, the life, death & resurrection of Jesus and the implications those things have for us.” – Discipleship Begins @ Home Blueprint, www.thenextgenerationalministries.com

Rather than a gift devotional this Christmas, get your little (and big) a Bible. Red-letter so they know which words are His, with some maps, thumb-indexed (external/added tabs make page-turning clunky). Let the Bible be the main text by which we live. Let everything else, though good, be set aside for something better.

Kid’s devotionals that make the cut? Anything by Vanessa Myers and the science ones by Louie Giglio. Super fun to to read and developmentally appropriate.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13