Home Work

When we had the bookstore, I really, really hated selling devotionals. I mean, to the order of talking people out of buying them so that they would get something else. Anything else.

Because let's face it: not every devotional is When I Don't Desire God, right?

And from my standpoint, children's devotionals ... ugh. Most of them are just ... look, let's not revisit the past. I'm not writing this review of What does the Bible Say About That? because it's part of the gin mill of sad and sorry time killers which substitute for real discipleship or study of God's word.

This book is actually different.

Now, before I gush on this book, let's make sure we frame my praise properly: this is a book for ages 8-12, and it's meant to be a devotional, not a 12-hour semester in post-graduate seminary training. But for about $16 (less from CBD), you get about 340 short devotionals like this one:

The page/topics are listed in alphabetical order, and the topics range from things as theologically-rich as the Trinity and Blasphemy to practical topics like Personal Hygiene and Competition. While it's a book designed for children, it's not just a book for kids: it's a book well-suited for family devotion time that can give you the opportunity to talk about our faith as if it was a real thing. You can call it "home work" if you're clever.

It's another winner from Crossway. At some point, other publishers are going to have to take notice and start committing themselves to top-shelf content like this for all ages.