Keys for Kids - daily devotions and Bible stories for kids Keys For Kids Ministries

"Hey, Mom, what are you doing?" asked Londyn as she and her mother stood in the linen aisle at the store.
Mom held a cloth napkin up toward the light. "These napkins have some flaws in them, so they cost less than regular ones. When I hold them up to the light, I can see what's wrong and whether or not it's a serious problem."
"How can you tell?" Londyn wanted to know.
"With the light shining through the material, I can see if there's a weak spot." Mom pointed to one of the flaws. "Most of these aren't bad, and I think I'll buy some."
After family devotions that evening, Londyn showed her dad the new napkins. "Light is very helpful," Dad said as Londyn held a napkin up to the light and pointed out a small flaw. He grinned. "Does this remind you of anything from our devotions tonight?"
"Actually, yeah!" said Londyn. "The verse you read said that God's Word is a lamp to our feet."
Dad nodded. "And a light to our path. When we examine our actions in the light of His Word, the flaws in our lives show up."
"Flaws?" asked Londyn. "Like what?"
"Well, remember when you were angry with Vera and wanted to get even with her?" asked Mom. "We looked up Bible verses that gave light on the subject, and you were able to see that trying to get even with her was wrong."
Londyn nodded. "The verses said to repay evil with good. At first I didn't want to do that, but I trusted God to help me, and I'm so glad I did. Vera is one of my best friends now."
"That's great," said Dad. "Sometimes there may be parts of our lives that we'd rather not hold up to the light of God's Word because we're afraid we'll have to change what we're doing. We forget that hanging on to our sinful ways is hurtful to both us and others. That's why the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Bible and uses it to shine light on what we're doing wrong--so we can confess our sin and trust Him to help us change our behavior."
"Right," said Mom. "Then we'll be able to experience more joy and peace in our lives."
–Lyndel F. Walker

Cecilia molded a huge sand castle on the beach, trying to make it like the castles she saw in movies. She made soaring towers and dug a deep moat all around it. Then she noticed that the ocean's waves were coming closer and closer. "Help, Dad! The water's going to wash away my castle!"
Dad shook his head. "It's no use. The tide is coming in, and the waves will come a lot higher before they go back down."
Cecilia didn't want to believe that. She dug a wide trench all around her castle and built a sand barrier to protect it. But water soon crashed over the barrier and filled the trench. The waves splashed against the castle, pulling it apart with watery fingers. "It took me a long time to build that," said Cecilia, "and now it's gone!"
"Well, just be glad it's only sand," said her sister, Ember. "Sometimes people lose real houses in fires and storms, don't they, Dad?"
Dad nodded. "When I was young, the house I lived in with my parents was badly damaged in a storm, and I lost a lot of my personal possessions. It was very hard, but it also helped me learn an important truth."
"What truth?" asked Cecilia.
"That all earthly possessions are a little like that sand castle," Dad said. "They won't last. I realized there's something much more important than earthly things, and anyone who has it will never lose it. Do you know what it is I'm talking about?"
"I know," said Ember. "It's Jesus, isn't it?"
"Yep!" Dad said. "He saves us and gives us eternal life, and that gift will last forever. Instead of focusing so much on earthly treasures, we should store up treasure in heaven."
"How do we do that?" asked Ember.
"Well," said Dad, "the most important thing is to trust Jesus as our Savior--He's the only one who can save us and give us eternal life. Then, as He works in our hearts and teaches us to live as children of God, we'll start to care more about what He wants than what we or other people want. The things we do to serve Him--and the things we give up to do it--will build us treasure in heaven."
–Daryl B. Knauer

"Hey, August," Dad said at dinner. "Remember that home run you hit in the baseball game today?"
"Of course!" August grinned. "I practically blasted that ball right out of the park!"
"It was quite a hit, all right," said Dad. "When you reached third base, it looked like you would have just enough time to beat the ball to home plate, and Coach Tim motioned for you to keep going. I wondered if you would slow down and look around to see where the ball was and then decide for yourself whether to go on or stay at third."
"I wanted to look, but Coach Tim is always telling us we have to trust him and just follow his directions, so I ran for it!"
"And it's a good thing you did. Taking time to look around would have cost you a run," said Dad. "Now--who would like to compare that to living the Christian life?"
August and Ryker looked at each other. "It's like you said before," August answered. "We need to listen to God."
Dad smiled. "Right, but this time it goes a little farther. Sometimes there's something we know God wants us to do, but we hesitate. We may feel the Holy Spirit urging us to do something at a particular moment, like show someone kindness or speak up about something that's wrong, but we don't trust Him enough to immediately obey Him. We want to wait and decide for ourselves whether or not to do it."
"But if August had done that in the game today, he wouldn't have made it home," Ryker pointed out.
"Right," said Dad. "And if we don't obey God right away, by the time we make the decision, we may have missed the Lord's timing. We need to obey God as soon as we know He wants us to do something. Even though it may feel hard or scary, we have the Holy Spirit in us to give us strength so that we can display His goodness and love in everything we do."
"So is God telling you to use my home run as another example in your Sunday school class tomorrow?" asked August.
Dad thought about it a moment. "You know, I think He is!" He smiled. "Maybe He'll use it to show someone else how important it is to trust and follow Jesus."
–Carolyn Gaston

"How did you like our game today, Dad?" asked August when he and Ryker got in the car after their baseball game.
"It was great!" said Dad. "Do you mind if I use you guys for an example in my Sunday school class tomorrow? Our lesson is about our Christian walk with Jesus, and you gave me some good examples. Can you boys figure out what they are?"
Ryker and August looked at each other and shrugged. "Umm…because we were on the winning team?" August guessed.
"Good thought!" said Dad. "With Jesus, you're on the winning team too. He defeated sin and death when He died on the cross and rose again. But I had some other things in mind. One of them was something Ryker did."
Ryker grinned. "Something good, I hope?"
"Yes, something good. I noticed that while you were waiting for your turn at bat in the sixth inning, some boys in the bleachers were calling out to you just as your coach came up to say something."
"Yeah. Those guys are on my soccer team at school, and they wanted me to come over to the fence and talk to them," Ryker explained.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't let them distract you and miss what your coach wanted to tell you," said Dad. "It's important to listen to him."
"Right," said Ryker. "Coach Tim always tells us that too. But why did that remind you of Christians? I don't get it."
"That's the way we need to listen to God," Dad explained. "He talks to us through His Word, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit helps us understand what it says and how we should apply it to our lives. Sometimes we don't pay attention to Him because we're so busy doing our own thing. Other times we might be distracted by what other people are saying or wanting us to do."
"So if we're so easily distracted, how can we be sure to listen to Him?" asked August.
"I think I know!" said Ryker. "By taking time to read the Bible and pray?"
Dad nodded. "That's one way to listen to God's voice. He also speaks to us through His church--His body of believers. As we worship and learn about God together and share our struggles with one another, the Holy Spirit speaks to us and guides us in His truth and love."
–Carolyn Gaston

Sophia ran her fingers through the sand and watched in anticipation. Her family had been on vacation in Cabo, Mexico, for several days, and now the event she had been waiting for was here: the baby turtle release. Her younger brother Charlie inched closer to the rope they were supposed to sit behind. "Look, Sophie! He's dumping them out of the bucket!"
Dozens of tiny turtles, smaller than Charlie's hands, were gently deposited from the bucket onto the sand. Sophia squealed excitedly as she watched them move their tiny flippers to propel themselves across the sand toward the ocean waves. Occasionally, a giant wave would engulf the babies, sweeping some of them to their ocean home and dragging others further up on the shore.
Groaning in frustration, Sophia nudged her mom. "Look at this poor little one! Every time it gets closer to the water, a wave comes up and ruins its progress! How come the man releasing them won't help?"
Mom smiled. "It's all part of the process God created for the turtles--it's called imprinting. When the babies are making their way to the ocean, their bodies will remember the air, sand, and other things about this very beach. Years later when it's time for the grown-up female turtles to lay their eggs, they will journey hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles back here to bury their eggs."
"Wow! Imprinting is so cool!" Sophia exclaimed.
Dad snapped a picture. "It reminds me of Psalm 139, where David wrote about God knowing everything about him. God knows when we're sleeping and when we're awake. He knows when we're at home and when we're in Cabo. There's nowhere we can go that He doesn't see us and care for us."
Mom nodded. "When we trust in Jesus, He gives us the Holy Spirit to remind us that we are His. Our hearts are imprinted to Him, and His Spirit inside us speaks to us, telling us that we belong to Him."
Charlie piped up. "No matter where these turtles go, they will remember that this beach is their home."
Sophia grinned at her brother. "And no matter where we go, even all the way to Cabo, Jesus is our home."
–Savannah Coleman

Nevaeh was almost finished helping Mrs. Burns with her housework. "I need to get to the bank before it closes," Mrs. Burns told her. "Do you think you could finish and lock up when you leave?"
"Sure," said Nevaeh. "No problem." So Mrs. Burns said goodbye and left.
Nevaeh hummed as she dusted, but suddenly--CRASH! She stared in dismay at the pieces of blue glass on the floor. She had accidentally knocked a vase off a table. Oh no! thought Nevaeh as her eyes filled with tears. What will Mrs. Burns think when she gets back? She sighed as she picked up the pieces of broken glass. Before leaving, she wrote a note, telling Mrs. Burns about the broken vase and saying she would pay for a new one.
"You did the right thing," Mom said when she heard what had happened.
That evening, Mrs. Burns called. "Thanks for leaving the note," she said, "but don't worry about paying for the vase. I'll never miss it!" Nevaeh felt much better, but she still wasn't looking forward to seeing Mrs. Burns at church on Sunday.
Sunday arrived, and Nevaeh nervously approached Mrs. Burns. "You're sure I don't owe you anything?" asked Nevaeh. "For the vase I broke?"
"The vase? Oh, right--the vase." Mrs. Burns shook her head and smiled. "I had forgotten about it. You should forget it too." She patted Nevaeh's arm. "Can you come and help me on Friday? I'm having guests next weekend and could use some help."
Back home, Nevaeh told Mom what Mrs. Burns had said. "It took her a minute to realize what I was talking about," said Nevaeh. "I think she really had forgotten all about it. And she wants me to work for her again on Friday!"
Mom smiled. "The vase may have been valuable--who knows? But Mrs. Burns forgave you for breaking it, and perhaps she made a decision not to remember. So she forgot about it. That's a good example of the way God forgives us for our sin. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the wrong things we've done, and when we confess our sin to Him, He forgives it and will never bring it up again! We can accept His forgiveness and go on serving Him."
–Karen R. Locklear