Today’s Reading:
Read Matthew 12:38-41; Luke 11:14-23
When you are driving down the road, how do you know the speed limit? How do you know the name of the road you are on? If you are supposed to stop at an intersection, how do you know? The answer to these questions is to follow the signs! There are signs along the roads to let us know where we are and how to safely get to where we are going. Without signs, drivers would have to trust that the drivers around them are making safe choices. Drivers would also have to trust their own knowledge of where they are and where they are going.
As Jesus’ ministry grew, the people he taught began to ask him for signs to help them believe that he was the promised Messiah. Jesus had already done a lot to show them that God had sent Him. He was healing people and teaching them about God’s law. Everything Jesus had done up to this point should have been all the sign that the people needed to believe in Him. However, Jesus gave them a sign to look for.
Jesus reminded the people of the story of Jonah. (Jonah was the prophet from the Old Testament who was supposed to go to Ninevah but instead went to Tarshish and was thrown into the belly of a big fish for three days, remember?) Jesus told them that just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, Jesus would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Jesus was predicting what would happen when He died and would be resurrected from the dead. The people did not understand the sign Jesus was referring to because it had not happened yet.
Application/Prayer:
Spend some time talking about faith today. Faith is believing in something that you can’t necessarily see. As Christ followers, we must have a lot of faith because we can’t see God. He does not always give us signs to prove that He’s there. Ask God for the faith to believe in Him, even if you can’t see signs that He is there!
Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:
- Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
- Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
- After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
- Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
- There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.
Other Resources:
October memory verse coloring sheet
October Fill-in the blank activity