Whether you are writing your own devotionals or grabbing off the shelf, you’ll want to know key components that guarantee a life-changing experience for your teens. Here are four key components to look for in a teen devotional.
- Does it engage teens with God’s Word?
What do teens spend most of their time doing with the devotional? Reading thoughts and illustrations from the author, or interacting with Scripture? Thoughts and illustrations from the author are helpful, but you want to make sure they don’t take away from first-hand interaction with the Word of God. Our thoughts and illustrations might be cute and creative, but God’s Word is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb 4:12) Let’s be sure our teens are spending more time with “living and active” than with cute and creative.
- Does it help teens see the text in their world?
Does the devo start with the issue and eventually get to the Scripture as more of a proof text? There is a subtle but huge difference between devos that try to make the Bible relevant and devos that treat the Bible as relevant. If we are trying to make the Bible relevant, we are assuming it is not relevant. Teens see through this. We can use God’s Word to back up our issues, or we can let God’s Word do what it says it will do: point to salvation, teach, reproof, correct, train for a right relationship with God, equip for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-16).
- Does it guide teens in practical application?
Does the devo offer prompts or guidance for “doing” the Scripture covered in the devo? Throughout the Bible we see a sacred rhythm with regard to God’s Word: hear and do. Moses said it. Jesus said it. Paul said it. James said it. Hearing and understanding is step one. Doing and putting into practice is step two. If our interaction with God’s Word doesn’t include these two steps, it is an incomplete experience. (Deut. 6:4-25; Matt. 7:24-26; 1 Cor. 8:1; James 1:22)
- Will teens do it and like it?
This is the pudding…the pudding that contains the proof. Is the time allotment teen friendly? Is the writing teen friendly? Does the devo itself, or the series or book, take into account the different learning styles of teens? Scripture itself, through its many genres, gives us opportunity for creative gateways into the text. And when we consider the basic learning styles of our teens (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic/active) we have options galore for connecting how teens want to learn with how Scripture wants to be experienced.
The InWord Commitment
InWord has been publishing and producing teen devotionals for 20+ years, leading over 100,000 teens into life-changing engagement with God’s Word. Devotionals are not a “loss leader” or “click candy” for us. They are the backbone of what we do. We have books for sale and we have freshly produced online freebies. Every devo is created through diligent study and care and produced with a nod toward a teen’s loaded schedule and distractible attention span.
You can check out our freebies here! These can be done online or you can download a PDF version.
You can check out our teen devo book “Since God So Loved” here!