Family Devotions in 2022

Have you given any consideration to your family devotional time for the next year? Maybe you already have a plan and that’s great. But maybe you have never given it any consideration. Here’s some food for thought.

In the Old Testament economy, family worship was an integral part of the worship of God. Parents were commanded to teach their children.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:7).

So, during the course of life at any given moment on any given day, parents were to teach their children the commands of the Lord. Parents are still commanded to teach their children the things of God.

One way of teaching the family is by having a family devotional time.

What to do.

1.            Decide to have a time of family devotions.

2.            Plan a time to have family devotions.

Consistency is what usually kills family devotions. We think that we must do it every day. Then we miss a day; then we play catch-up. We miss more days, then more catch-up. Next, we’re frustrated at being behind, so we then quit.

How do we avoid this cycle? First, plan what days you will have a family devotion time. It doesn’t have to be every day. Second, plan when on that day you will have it. Will it be after a meal, before a meal, before bedtime.?

3.            Choose what do

• • It could be as simple as reading a chapter of scripture and discussing it.
  • At Sunday dinner ask everyone at the table what they learned in Sunday school and in the morning worship and discuss it.
  • If you have trained your children in personal devotions, you can ask what they are learning in them.
  • You can use some resources.

Families with younger children, check out keys for kids (keysforkids.org). Keys for Kids also has devotionals for teens called Unlocked (unlocked.org).

Dr. Stewart Custer, long time pastor and chairman of the division of Bible at Bob Jones University, has written several short devotionals to get you started. They are The Way of the Lord, and Wonderful Words. (They are available at bjup.com or amazon.com)

Marty Machowski has two resources: Wise Up: Ten-Minute Family Devotions in Proverbs and Listen Up: Ten-Minute Family Devotions on the parables. (Available at amazon.com)

You can always ask your Pastor for some recommendations.

Let’s help our families grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Essential 100

Have you chosen your Bible reading plan for 2022?

In an earlier post I suggested a couple of plans to guide you through the entire Bible during the year.

Here is a link for those Bible reading plans: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

However, maybe one of these plans just seem too overwhelming. Maybe you are convinced that you would never be able to do it, so you don’t want to attempt because you fear that you will fail at it.

Don’t give up on a plan to read your Bible in 2022.

Scripture Union developed a plan called the Essential 100. It is 100 carefully chosen passages; 50 are from the Old Testament and 50 are from the New Testament. These readings will give you the big picture of the Bible in just 100 readings.

Here is a link for the Essential 100:

So in 2022, read your Bible.