Sticky Situations!
In a world painted in shades of grey, things can get real sticky, real fast! How do we differentiate black from white, wrong from right when they seem to blend into each other?
God's Word is the ultimate arbiter of objective truth.
God's Word is the ultimate arbiter of objective truth - the Bible may have been written to a different audience, but its principles and values are timeless and designed to foster human flourishing. When we learn to apply what God's Word teaches to our lives, we are closer to living as God intended!
As you go through this year's devotional theme of "Sticky Situations" as a family, we hope that the monthly scenarios will resonate with you and your kids. As you discuss the various options (or come up with your own), think: what is guiding your decision-making? Are we just paying lip service to what we know are the "model answers", or are our lives truly being transformed so that our attitudes and actions line up with our words?
After reading and discussing each week's scenario, use the weekly devotional prompters in your wall planner to look at what the Bible says about the topic. Head over to our Instagram account @thetreasureboxsg or subscribe to our mailing list for weekly insights from our guest contributors!
We hope that this resource will be a blessing to you and your family in 2024, and that as a family, you will learn how when we face sticky situations in life, God’s word helps us get un-stuck!
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May: It's Just A Joke...
Theme: Practising Self-Control
A popular Singaporean saying goes: "Good things must share!" But what if something we want to share with others... is not really that good? 🤔
This month's devos centre around the theme of practicing self-control, and what should guide us in the decisions that we make. Read the story, then discuss the options as a family. What would you do? Why?
Remember to exercise grace as you walk through some of these more delicate topics. As our kids share what's truly on their hearts and minds, let's give them the space to think and reflect about the choices they make. After all, learning about self-control is not just something that's reserved for kids... it's for us adults too!
Let's explore this Sticky Situation together!
Flip the book below to read the sticky situation. Discuss the options given and make a decision!
Weekly devotional guides are below.
Week 1 Family Devotional Guide
In Psalm 19, King David ended his prayer with a humble surrender of his mouth and heart to the Lord. When we seek to align our words and meditations with the Lord, we open the door to a life filled with His transforming power! Our words hold the potential to not only reflect our relationship with God but also influence the atmosphere around us.
📖 Read
Psalm 19:14 (ESV)
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
🤔 Reflect
How often do we pause to consider whether our words and thoughts align with what is pleasing to God? What practical steps can we take to ensure that our speech and inner reflections are in harmony with God's will and character?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Heavenly Father, you are my strength and my redeemer. Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10) so that I might speak wisely to all those who are around me.
Week 2 Family Devotional Guide
Our words can have a profound impact on others. Just as salt enhances the flavour of food, our speech should season our conversations with grace, kindness and love as a source of encouragement and enlightenment to those around us.
📖 Read
Colossians 4:6 (NIV)
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
🤔 Reflect
How intentional am I about seasoning my conversations with grace, kindness and love? How might I give others a “taste” of what Jesus is like with the words that I speak?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Heavenly Father, help me to flavour the lives of others with Your goodness and love. Enable me to speak the truth in love to preserve the hope of Jesus in a world that has been spoiled by sin.
Week 3 Family Devotional Guide
Just as a door has a lock to control who enters, our lips should have a guard to filter the words we speak. When we ask God to set a guard over our mouth and keep watch over the door of our lips, we acknowledge our need for His guidance and control in our communication. There should not be any filthiness nor crude joking in the things that we say (Ephesians 5:4).
📖 Read
Psalm 141:3 (ESV)
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
🤔 Reflect
How often do I seek God's help in guarding my speech and ensuring that my words are edifying and uplifting? When I feel tempted to repeat something someone might find hurtful, how can I remind myself how much Jesus loves me and choose to extend that same love to the person instead?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Heavenly Father, I humbly come before you recognising the power of my words and the influence they can have on those around me. Help me to filter my words through the lens of your wisdom; may my speech bring glory to your name.
Week 4 Family Devotional Guide
In a world where unwholesome talk and crude humour often prevail, we are called to a higher standard. Our words should be characterised by kindness and love to build up those around us rather than tear them down. When we speak with grace, we reflect the light of Christ in our lives.
📖 Read
Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
🤔 Reflect
What kind of words do I speak? How often do my words communicate the love of Christ? In what ways can I actively choose to use my words to uplift and encourage others today?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Heavenly Father, help me not to thoughtlessly blurt out anything that pops into my head but to speak words of kindness and grace, reflecting Your love in all I say. Allow my communication to be a beacon of truth and light in a world often filled with darkness.
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✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Dr Morgan Zhou (@morganzhou), a vice-principal in a local primary school. He also chairs the Board of Children Ministry in the Trinity Annual Conference of The Methodist Church in Singapore. He is passionate about mentoring, outreach to disadvantaged families, and is keenly interested in strengthening the education of children and youth with diverse abilities and special needs.
Married to Angela, they have two boys, Elijah and Elias, and a cat, Junior, who is not so junior anymore.
If you and your family enjoyed this resource, and would like to partner with the ministry of The Treasure Box Singapore in reaching families in Singapore and beyond, click here.
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April: I Don't Feel Like Praising God...
Theme: Dealing with Personal Faith
Have you ever felt like your faith was weak? Times perhaps when you just didn't feel like going to church to worship God or read His word? If so, you are not alone. We all have times when we don't feel like praising God. The question is, what should we do in these situations? Should we give in to our emotions and our thoughts? Should we ignore them? Is there a better way?
Let's explore this Sticky Situation together!
Flip the book below to read the sticky situation. Discuss the options given and make a decision!
Weekly devotional guides are below.
Week 1 Family Devotional Guide
Have you ever had a really bad day when everything just went wrong? Or you may have seen how bad things happened to good people. These are moments where we would often feel lost, confused or angry, and sometimes question if God even cares. Does He know what I’m going through? Ps 121:3,8 clearly tells us that God watches over us every second of our lives. Yes, He cares. He is the all-knowing God. He knows what you are thinking and how you are feeling right now. So, have faith to believe that He is right there by your side when bad things happen, even when you can’t see or feel His presence.
📖 Read
Psalm 121:3,8 NIV
(v3) He will not let your foot slip - He who watches over you will not slumber.
(v8) The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
🤔 Reflect
Consider this: God watches over us every second of our lives. He cares that we are feeling lost, confused or angry because of bad things that happen. He is right there by our side.
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Write down on a piece of paper all the seemingly ‘bad’ situations that you are going through now. Talk to God about how you honestly feel about them. (Keep this paper for next week’s response activity).
Week 2 Family Devotional Guide
If He cares, why then do all these bad things happen to me?
We may have been taught that God will always help us and bless us with good things. So when ‘bad’ situations happen, it doesn’t make sense how a good God would not take them away immediately. In Isaiah 55:9, God declares that “My ways (are) higher that your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” It means God is fully aware of what’s happening and is fully in control of why certain situations happen to different people. This calls us to humbly recognise that He is God and we are not. Faith is believing that He knows exactly what He is doing.
📖 Read
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.“ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
🤔 Reflect
God is fully aware of what’s happening and is in full control of why certain situations happen to different people. Our response is to surrender the situation to Him and trust Him to work things out according to His (higher!) ways.
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Take the list of ‘bad’ situations you wrote last week. Fold it and put it inside an envelope. Seal the envelope and write these words on it: “GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM IN HIS WAYS.” Pray and surrender them to God.
Week 3 Family Devotional Guide
What is God doing about all these ‘bad’ situations?
God is a master of turning bad things around into something wonderful. When our parents fall very sick, it could be a way that God uses to cause them to rest because of overworking in their job. When our siblings are giving us a hard time at home, it could be a way God uses to teach us kindness and to be more patient. Faith is believing that God can use any situation for something good (Romans 8:28), especially to help us to be more like Jesus in character.
📖 Read
Romans 8:28 NIV
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
🤔 Reflect
God is able to use ‘bad’ situations and turn them into something good. God uses them to change us so that we can be more like Jesus in character.
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
For every one of the ‘bad’ situations that you are experiencing, try to think of one good thing that can come out of the situation which will help you develop the character of Jesus. Give thanks to God for the work He is doing for you.
Week 4 Family Devotional Guide
What must I do when I face all the ‘bad’ situations?
Even though Jesus was wrongfully accused, beaten and eventually killed even though He was innocent, He did not fight back or take revenge on those who hurt him. Instead, He loved and did good to everyone. We can learn the ways of Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 commands us not to pay back wrong for wrong, but to do good to everyone instead. By this, our actions will become an offering of sacrifice that pleases God (Hebrews 13:15-16). Faith is believing that the more we follow His ways, the more we will develop the character of Jesus in us.
📖 Read
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NIV
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
Hebrews 13:15-16 NIV
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
🤔 Reflect
Just as Jesus would continue to love and do good to those who hurt him, we can be like Him, doing good in love to those who might be making us angry or hurting us. By this, we become more like Jesus.
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Give thanks to God for teaching us what it means to love and continue to do good even when we go through bad situations. Pray that we will learn to be more like Jesus as we follow His ways.
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✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Pastor Joshua Wong, a Pastoral Staff at Covenant Evangelical Free Church. He graduated from NTU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 and worked as an engineer for 8 years before the Lord called him out to full-time Children’s Ministry. He got his Masters degree from Singapore Bible College in 2011. He is married to Sharon with two grown-up kids, aged 21 and 18.
If you and your family enjoyed this resource, and would like to partner with the ministry of The Treasure Box Singapore in reaching families in Singapore and beyond, click here.
March: To click or not to click?
Theme: Practicing Cyberwellness
Flip the book below to read the sticky situation. Discuss the options given and make a decision!
Weekly devotional guides are below.
Week 1 Family Devotional Guide
Being curious about something is good; we want to find out what we don’t know. We need to remember to look for information from safe and trusted places. Just because a friend tells us to watch something does not mean it is safe and good for us. God sent us parents and other adults to love us and take care of us, and we can ask them for help to stay safe, both online and offline.
📖 Read
Proverbs 9:10 NLT
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
🤔 Reflect
God is the Creator of heaven and earth and everything in this world belongs to Him - even the internet and social media! Stay close to God; keep learning from your parents and other loving adults whom He has surrounded you with, and you will grow wiser each day.
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Pray and thank God for giving family and other adults who love and care for you. Ask Him to help you be wise when you are tempted!
Sometimes we want to fit in with the crowd; when our friends say something is fun, we also want to see if it is fun. It is ok to like what our friends like or do what they do, as long as it is right and safe. It is also ok to say “No”, even if it means being different from our friends.
✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Carol Loi (@joyful.carol), a verified digital wellness educator and a Fellow of the Centre for Media Literacy.
📖 Read
Galatians 1:10 NLT
🤔 ReflectWhat are some areas that you may feel pressured to fit in with your friends? Gaming too often with friends? Watching media content that you know is not kind or pleasing to God? Speaking words that are harsh and rude? Comparing school grades with others?
🏃🏻♂️ RespondShare your reflections as a family, and pray together for God to give you wisdom and strength to be different so as to please God and not please friends.
Week 3 Family Devotional Guide
We are usually careful with what we put into our bodies through our mouths - most of us don’t pick up food from the floor to eat even if it is our favourite food like chocolate (the 3-second rule is a myth!). We also need to be careful with what we put into our bodies through our eyes and ears - what do we watch on our devices, and what do we listen to? The more we watch or listen to things that are not appropriate - words that are unkind, songs that contain inappropriate lyrics, games that are violent - the more unhealthy we grow to become.
✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Carol Loi (@joyful.carol), a verified digital wellness educator and a Fellow of the Centre for Media Literacy.
📖 Read
1 Corinthians 10:23 NLT
🤔 Reflect
What are some things that you have allowed into your body through your eyes and ears that you know are not right? How do you decide what is healthy or not healthy for you when you are using your devices?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Discuss the questions as a family, and ask each other what you think and observe about how we are using our devices. Pray together to ask God for wisdom in making decisions about what you watch and listen to.
Week 4 Family Devotional Guide
When we enjoy our food, we should think about what we are eating. For example, what ingredients go into the delicious pizza? What made us want to eat something - did we see an advertisement? Or did our friends keep telling us that it is delicious? Or we saw influencers sharing on social media? In the same way, we can also practice thinking about what we are watching on the internet. For example, what is the video trying to make us think and feel? What is it trying to make us do? Is that true, a little bit untrue, or a total scam?
📖 Read
Colossians 2:3 NLT
In Him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
🤔 Reflect
How have you been thinking about what you are watching and listening on the internet? How much do you discuss with your parents or trusted adults about what you watched or listened to? What do they think about your choices?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Share your reflection with your family and listen to what each other has to say. Pray together and help one another in the family to stay close to God, so that every member in the family can discover the treasures of Godly wisdom and knowledge together.
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✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Carol Loi (@joyful.carol), a verified digital wellness educator and a Fellow of the Centre for Media Literacy.
If you and your family enjoyed this resource, and would like to partner with the ministry of The Treasure Box Singapore in reaching families in Singapore and beyond, click here.
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February: You have to! You need it!
Theme: Peer Pressure
Flip the book below to read the sticky situation. Discuss the options given and make a decision!
Weekly devotional guides are below.
Week 1 Family Devotional Guide
Every little decision we make is an expression of who we are and what we want in life. Some are inconsequential, while others compound together and develop into something that impacts us in a bigger way. Our decisions also reveal what truly motivates us, underneath the choices we make. In this month’s Sticky Situation, Joanne is hesitant and unsure about what to do because unseen forces are pulling her in two directions: to be prudent with money or risk being rejected by her friends.
📖 Read
Matthew 6:21 (ESV)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
🤔 Reflect
Consider what motivates your choices and actions. What is the “treasure” that you seek as you make a particular choice? Why do you see that as valuable to you?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Make a list of the things you truly value. Identify the top three things and bring them to the Lord.
Week 2 Family Devotional Guide
Back to Joanne’s dilemma.
Friendship or prudence? Camaraderie or pocket-money? Can we use money to buy friendships?
Joanne can choose to be wise, prudent, and honest about not wanting to spend money buying something she does not need. And of course, dressing like the Gals Generations together will be cool. What if spending a few dollars would really help develop the friendships between the girls? Some decisions are hard because the underlying motivations that pull us apart are seemingly all “good”! That’s what makes situations truly sticky.
📖 Read
1 Corinthians 2:5 (ESV)
…so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
🤔 Reflect
Consider biblical principles and biblical counsel in making life choices. What would God require of us? How should God’s people choose? Will we trust God enough to take care of the consequences of our choices when we seek to honour him?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Most of the decisions we make in life are also faith choices. Pray that we will learn to trust God and surrender our choices to Him as a key part of growing spiritually.
Week 3 Family Devotional Guide
What drives certain people to do certain things? Why would some people surrender all they have to follow Jesus Christ? Why would others devote their lives to build an empire of their own glory? Why would a merchant of pearls, upon finding one pearl of great value, go and sold all he has to buy it (Matthew 13:45–46, ESV)? The answer is simple: understanding what is of true, eternal value.
📖 Read
Luke 14:33 (ESV)
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
🤔 Reflect
An important decision in life is choosing between the costs of discipleship and the rewards of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. What are such costs in your life and what are the rewards of being a disciple of Christ?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is costly. Ask God to help us see these costs from the right perspective and make the right valuation.
Week 4 Family Devotional Guide
When choices are made, we have to learn to live with the consequences. For Christians, learning to live for Jesus Christ demands faith and courage. This is what we see in God’s people in the Bible—men and women desiring to love God and others, making life choices by faith, living for Jesus, and fulfilling God’s intent for His people to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
📖 Read
Hebrews 10:35 (ESV)
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
Hebrews 11:26 (ESV)
He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
🤔 Reflect
Have you committed to God certain decisions and tasted the trustworthiness of God? If God is calling you to live in a particular way that may not be popular in the eyes of others, can you trust Him enough to obey him?
🏃🏻♂️ Respond
What is one thing you would commit to trust and obey in what God wants of you? Share this with your family and pray together to ask for God’s help to do this.
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✍️ This month’s devotions are contributed by Dr. Peter Ho, Academic Dean and an Associate Professor of Old Testament at the School of Theology (English) at Singapore Bible College. He is an alumnus of the College (2012) and joined the faculty in 2017. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Peter ministered for about three years in an English congregation.
He is married to Wendy and they have four children. They currently worship at a Presbyterian church.
If you and your family enjoyed this resource, and would like to partner with the ministry of The Treasure Box Singapore in reaching families in Singapore and beyond, click here.
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January: Back to School
Theme: Fear and Uncertainty
Flip the book below to read the sticky situation. Discuss the options given and make a decision!
Weekly devotional guides are below.
Week 1 Family Devotional Guide
It's normal to feel anxious or worried when we don't know what will happen next, but our response to these feelings determine who we put our trust in. When things in life slip beyond our control, let us find hope by remembering the One who "holds all things together" (Col 1:17).
Read more here.
Week 2 Family Devotional Guide
We often classify our fears and anxieties into two big categories: “big stuff” and “small stuff”. We have no trouble bringing the “big stuff” to God. It’s the “small stuff” that we often end up fretting over because we think to ourselves: surely God has bigger things to worry about! The fact though, is that God does not make a distinction between the “big stuff” and the “small stuff”. He cares for “ALL stuff”! This week, let’s turn all our worries to Him - simply because He cares for us.
Read more here.
Week 3 Family Devotional Guide
𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. ☀️
When we’re going through an anxious time, it can feel like a dreary rainstorm with no end in sight. What we need in those moments is for someone to gently point out to us the cracks in the rain clouds where the sun’s rays are shining through. These are reminders that the storm will pass, and that even amidst flashing lightning and rumbling thunder, there is hope and beauty to be found.
A kind word; a simple prayer; a listening ear - God brings people along to offer us these little gestures of hope to remind us that even in the storm, the sun still shines.
Read more here.
Week 4 Family Devotional Guide
𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
An ancient fortress is kept safe not just by what it is made of, but also by the people who live in it. God is a fortress for us, not just because He is all-powerful, but because in Christ, we find a community of believers in whom we can seek refuge and find shelter.
The walls of a fortress not only project strength; they also promise safety.
In times of trial and trouble, let us run to God our fortress; and to God’s people, our fellow fortress-dwellers.
Read more here.
If you and your family enjoyed this resource, and would like to partner with the ministry of The Treasure Box Singapore in reaching families in Singapore and beyond, click here.