In our efforts to try and instill and speak truth into the life of our daughter we’ve asked several friends of our’s over the past year what they personally use for family devotions.  Even though she’s a mere 7 months, we want to begin developing spiritual habits/disciplines in our personal time with Luci.  Without a doubt, the book that continually surfaced in my conversation with friends and one they adamantly endorsed was The Jesus Storybook Bible – Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd Jones.  To say the least, this is a fantastic book.  I have rarely seen books do justice to teaching little children a Christocentric view of Scripture, all the while with vocabulary conducive for little children.  I’m anticipatory of the day when the night-after-night reading of this book will come to fruition in Luci’s heart and she’ll truly see “how every story whispers His Name.”  You may be asking, “what’s the point of teaching your children a Christocentric view of Scripture?”  Glad you asked.  Several years ago my understanding of the Bible was challenged and “awakened” by a number of pastor friends of mine, as well as several books that explicated and taught the overarching story of redemption in Christ to the glory of God; this story is interwoven throughout all Scripture.  I had never seen or read the Bible with an understanding of such deep interconnectedness; not that I saw all the stories as independent of another, because I did see and understand that all of Scripture looked forward to and found its fulfillment in Christ (my mentors at previous churches and professors at Southern Seminary might be scratching their heads right about now).  I just truly had no idea how deep this truth ran.  And with all honesty, there are still times that I don’t readily see the fulfillment in Christ or realization of Christ in a particular verse or passage of Scripture, which causes me to ask questions and seek the knowledge and wisdom of others (Proverbs 12:1) to gain answers, so that when Luci asks, “dad, what’s the point of reading this verse or passage?”…I’ll be able to tell her.  

So, I wholeheartedly recommend Sally Lloyd Jones’ book as a tool to teach your children the witness and truth of Scripture.  And it does serve as a clarion call and continual reminder that I (and every Christian for that matter) need to see Jesus on every page, not just on whatever page your Bible or mine might have John 3:16.