What’s on Your Mind?

For parents: This five-day devotional is meant to be shared with your child. Read aloud the devotional text and the Scripture verses, and then discuss together the questions.

God cares a lot about all those thoughts in your head. Why? Well, the things, people, and stories you think about shape the way you live your life.

For example, if you fill your thoughts with sports, you’ll find yourself wanting to play those sports with friends. If you often wonder about animals, you’ll be concerned with how animals are treated. If you think a lot about music, you’ll be excited to go to concerts or listen to new songs. So . . . if you think about God a lot, you’ll want to live for Him each and every day.

The best way to begin using our minds to glorify God is to flood our thoughts with the Bible because the Bible is God’s story. God wrote the Bible in a way nobody had written a story before or has since it was written over many, many years with many people writing God’s words—but it’s all one big story. When I say “big story,” I mean the whole story of the entire Bible from the very beginning to the very end, from Genesis to Revelation. Thinking of the Bible this way is called “biblical theology.”

When God wrote His big story, the Bible, He divided it into four major scenes (kind of like acts in a play!): Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Can you see all four scenes in God’s story? God created the world; Adam and Eve sinned and were separated from God; God sent Jesus to redeem the world; and one day Jesus will return to restore all creation.

God is true, so His story is true.
God is the Creator, so His story is creative.
God is powerful, so His story is powerful.
God is love, so His story is loving.
God is our Savior, so His story tells us about how He saves.

The better we know God’s story, the better we are at thinking about Him and living for Him.

Throughout your life, many things will change, from where you live and go to school to the kind of life you have as an adult. There will be moments when you couldn’t possibly be happier.

There will also be heartbreaking moments because bad and sad things do happen in the world. God’s story is there to guide you through every single moment. Even though life changes, God doesn’t change, and because God doesn’t change, His story remains the same.

Discuss with your child:

• Why is it important to know that God doesn’t change and His story remains the same?