The Friend Who Forgives Family Bible Devotional by Katy Morgan

This family devotional has 15 days of reading and activities that use the book The Friend Who Forgives as the guide to walk through some of Peter’s life before, during, and after Christ’s resurrection. Each day includes a quick prayer, a brief “For Starters” section, Bible reading (Scripture included), an “Explore the Story” section with questions and spaces to write in the answer, an “Extra” section with a few more optional thoughts and questions, and another prayer section with an interactive element. Scattered throughout the book, there are also occasional coloring pages and activities such as a word search or dot-to-dot.

This is a very simple, straightforward devotional that could be used any time of year, but might be especially timely during the Easter season. Most of this I really enjoy: reading scripture together and asking thoughtful questions is a fantastic way to spend family devotional time. Those sections are very well put together and great for kids 5-11. It’s the very last section, the second prayer section, that could be skipped without sacrificing much. My concerns in this section are listed below, but overall, this could be a good resource for families who want a simple Easter-time devotional that starts some fruitful conversations.

Things to note:

During one of the interactive sections, it tells the child[ren] to draw a stick figure of themself and one for Jesus.
As the title denotes, Jesus is often referred to as a friend, for example, one interactive section says, “Say or write a thank-you prayer to celebrate Jesus’ friendship,” which assumes salvation.
In one of the prayer sections, it says, “Has Jesus earned your trust?”
When addressing Baptism, it reads, “Some people are baptized as children, while others wait until they are older and more certain about their faith. Whether or not you’ve been baptized, you can still turn away from sin and put your trust in Jesus each day.”
The last devotion ends with something that sounds a lot like the “Sinner’s Prayer,” although not exactly.

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