Do you ever wish you could start all over again?
Sally Lloyd-Jones makes me feel this way.
Sally’s a Brit who lives in New York City and writes children’s books. During a recent interview with Family Life Today radio host Dennis Rainey, she shared her childhood perception of God.
“I grew up hearing Bible stories like Daniel in the lion’s den, and I used to think I had to be as brave as Daniel, and then God would love me. But I knew very well I wasn’t nearly as brave as Daniel, and I wouldn’t want to be thrown into a den of lions, and . . . I thought how could God be pleased with me? He can’t.”
Her children’s Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible*, came out of her childhood perception. “The Bible isn’t a book of rules or a book or heroes,” Sally says, “it’s most of all a story—a story about how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. At the center of the story is a baby, and every single story whispers his name.” Sally has no children of her own, but when she began to write Christian stories for children, she pictured her four-year-old nephew, Harry.
“How would you explain sin to a child?” she wondered. Sally pictured a conversation and began to write sound, biblical, easy-to-understand versions of Bible stories and concepts.
“Sin is like running away and hiding.”
“Sin is like a poison—it makes your heart sick.”
“Sin is thinking you can be happy without God.”
God revealed to her that the most effective way to share the gospel story is to place it in the context of relationships. “Bible story books are only about rules,” she says, “but our hearts are hard, and rules make us want to rebel. But if you hear that sin is actually breaking God’s heart, a child responds to this, because they don’t want to break someone’s heart who loves them.” Sally’s goal in writing The Jesus Storybook Bible was to use every story to point children to Jesus.
Her wise, divinely inspired perspective is what makes me wish I could go back to the early days of parenting and do it all over again.
I’d still tell my children they should be honest, diligent, respectful, and moral, but I’d be sure they understood the most important reason why: Because God loves them more than anyone else in the world, and when they sin, they break his heart.
I can’t read The Jesus Storybook Bible to my children, but I can share it someday with my grandchildren. As I read, I’ll ask God to reveal his deep, wide, unconditional love to them. And I’ll pray that they will love him so much they will never want to break his heart.
How about you? Is there a child in your life who needs to know how much Jesus loves him? Have you come to an understanding of this yourself?
If you’d like to hear Family Life Today’s interviews with Sally Lloyd-Jones, I’ve included the links below. If you’re reading by email, click here for the links to Sally Lloyd-Jones’ interview.
And if you’d like to purchase The Jesus Storybook Bible, visit your nearest Christian bookstore or click on the link or image above. It could be the most important Bible you ever buy.
Sally Lloyd-Jones Engaging with Children radio interview– Family Life Today
If you enjoyed this post, you might like, "When the Bible is Dry and Boring" a post about my favorite grown up Bible.
Happy to share this review on Create with Joy's new page, The Book Nook.
If you enjoyed this post, you might like, "When the Bible is Dry and Boring" a post about my favorite grown up Bible.
Happy to share this review on Create with Joy's new page, The Book Nook.
*Occasionally I include affiliate links for products I use and believe in.
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