God's love is amazing!

"God really loves us. He showed us his love. He sent Jesus. Now we can be close to him. We will live with God forever. He gives us eternal life. God’s love is amazing. His love is the best. He sent Jesus. Jesus died on the cross. He died for us. Then he forgives our sins. We love God. But our love is not the best. God’s love is the best. That is real love" (1 John 4:9-10, The B-I-B-L-E).

Becoming more like Jesus

"Think about important things. Do not mess around with bad things. Do not mess around with stupid things. Do not hide bad ideas in your heart. Do what is right. Be ready for Jesus to come back again. You love Jesus. He forgave your sins. He saved you. He will keep on working in your heart. You will keep on growing to be more and more like Jesus. I want your heart to be super full of good things. Jesus will do that. People will look at you. They will see how nice you are. They will say, 'Wow! God is awesome!' " (Philippians 1:10-11, The B-I-B-L-E).

Forgiveness

My two-year-old grandson was in "time-out" because he threw a toy at his sister. His dad told him to sit quietly in "time-out" and think about what he had done. But he made several attempts to talk with someone. He said, "I want to talk to my mommy." And he said, "I want to talk to my grammy." Then he looked at me pleadingly and said, "Grammy, talk to me." That pulled at my heart, but I followed the rules. It made me think about David and his desire for forgiveness and a restored relationship after his sin.

"I am very sorry that I hurt someone. Please forgive me. You are the one who saves. I will sing happy songs about you. I will tell others that you forgive. God, help me tell other people about you. I do not want to be quiet. I will tell others how great you are. I will praise you. I could give an offering to you. But that would not make you happy. I know what you want. You want me to be sorry for my sins. That will make you happy. You want me to know I did bad things. You want me to be ready to be good. That will make you happy" (Psalm 51:14-17, The B-I-B-L-E).

Reading mastery for kids

As a teacher, I can tell you that reading is perhaps the most important skill for success in school. We must put forth every effort to help children become proficient readers and understand what they read. The B-I-B-L-E is perfect for children to develop reading mastery. And as they read God's Word and understand it, we can challenge them to put it into practice in their lives. As they read God's Word and think about it, they will come to know God better and understand what he wants them to do. The B-I-B-L-E is not intended to be a book for Scripture memory. Rather, it is a book for reading. Children can read God's Word and understand it as early readers.

The perfect guidebook for life!

I substitute taught in Kindergarten this week. We talked a lot about responsibility. I love to teach children about character qualities and values. I taught them that being responsible means to respect others. It means to show self-control. It means to listen well. It means to finish all of our work. It means to do our best. All of that is in God's Word. The Bible is God's guidebook for life. I am passionate to give kids access to God's Word. I am anxious to finish Proverbs and Romans and get Volume 3 out.

The Good News

"You did not have real life. You were far away from God. Sin was the ruler of your life. Your old self wanted to do bad things. But then you asked God to forgive you. You asked God to take away your sins. So God gave you a new life. Jesus is the Ruler of your new life. We all did a lot of bad things. Our sins made us be far away from God. God will punish people who sin. But God put all of our sins on Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We asked God to forgive our sins. We asked God to take away our sins. So God will not remember our sins anymore" (Colossians 2:13-14, The B-I-B-L-E).

God, who loves me? Only you!

"Wow! I almost made a big mistake. I saw the proud people. They are bad. I saw all the nice things they have. I wished I had those nice things too....I see the bad people. And I look at myself. Why do I do what is right? I have problems all the time. I am hurting every day....I did not really say those things. That would have been bad. Some things are hard to understand. Why do bad people have nice things? I do not know. Then I got close to God one day....I can see that I was crabby. I can see that I was mad. I was thinking about the bad people and all their nice things. I was stupid to think those things. That was not good. But, God, I know you love me. You are close to me. You will show me what to do. You will show me what is right. Someday you will take me home to heaven. God, who loves me? Only you! I want to be close to you. That is what I want the most" (Psalm 73:2-3,13-17,21-25, The B-I-B-L-E).