Flashlights and Fireflies: Devotions for Kids and FamiliesSample

Ask Everyone:

• What is something grown-ups can do better than kids?
• What are some things kids can do better than grown-ups?
• Right now, would you rather be a kid or a grown-up? Why?

Devotional:

How many kids might have stood on the hill in the sunshine watching the famous teacher? Maybe they were hiding behind their parents, picking at the grass or playing hide-and-seek with each other. Maybe they were wondering when they could go home or have a snack. Do you ever feel like that when grown-ups are talking?

At least one little kid was near the famous teacher (this was Jesus, of course!) when he started to say something that made all the kids pay attention. Jesus smiled at the child nearest to him and waved for them to come over—right in front of where Jesus was standing.

What do you think the other kids thought at that moment?

Maybe they wondered if their friend was in trouble or if Jesus would tell them to stop making noise while he was teaching. But no! Jesus said something no one expected.

He pointed to the child and told all the grown-ups, “Be just like this kid! All of you need to be more like kids and less like grownups! In my Kingdom, it’s the children who are the important ones.”

I wonder what the grown-ups thought of that!

Jesus went on to say that kids would always be welcome around him, just the way they are. And kids are great at things that are sometimes hard for grown-ups, like trusting God and having faith, asking for help and receiving gifts.

How about you? Have you ever asked God for help? Do you have faith that God can do great things?

Jesus was looking for people like that to join his Kingdom: People who would trust Him, would accept his gift of belonging to his forever family, and would ask him for help when they were afraid—all things a kid would do.

Have you ever seen a firefly? They are tiny insects, but at night they can glow, and that light can be seen from far away. They use their light to find one another and talk to each other. Fireflies glow at all the stages of their life (even as eggs and glow-worms they light up in the dark!).

Faith is a bit like a firefly’s light. In the same way fireflies can be seen by the light they give, when one person has faith it’s like a light that others can see, too! Faith is when we trust that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Faith is how we join God’s forever family and receive all the good things God has planned. It changes how we live, how we think, and who we are. And kids are great at faith—Jesus said so! This is why they are so important in the Kingdom of God.

Activity:

Grab a flashlight (or a phone if that’s what you have) and turn off the lights in your room. Light is pretty powerful—but how powerful? How many blankets will block out all the light? Can the light shine through your hand? If you have a flashlight for each child in your family, choose a target in a somewhat darkened room with a mirror. Can they hit the object with their light by reflecting it off the mirror?

Discussion Questions:

• What would you have thought if Jesus had picked YOU in front of all the grown-ups to tell them who they should be more like? How do you think that kid felt?
• Do you think this kid believed in who Jesus was? Why do you think that?
• Who do you trust to help you? How does God help us, and how do we know we can trust Him?

Prayer

Thank you, Jesus, for loving kids and for loving our family. Help us to have faith that you can help us. Help us all to be able to trust you like kids trust their parents. Help us all to have faith and let that faith show to others like a firefly’s light does. Amen.