10 minute devotions . . .

I’ve had reason over the last few months to discuss an interesting topic with family, coworkers and church people. That is the topic of “devotions”. It has always made me a little uncomfortable that when you ask some people how their spiritual life is going that they right away tell you how consistent they are being in their daily devotions.

Of course, this is an important part of your spiritual life! Spending time with the Lord in His Word and in prayer on a daily basis is an extremely important discipline to learn. Perhaps this can be an indicator of how your overall spiritual life is going at times. But to narrow down your spiritual life to that one factor is a big mistake.

Recently I was filling out a survey that asked how many times I read the Bible and pray in a week. The question certainly made me think and challenged me, but I also thought that perhaps they were asking the wrong question. A time of prayer in the morning is great, but what good does it do if we ignore the Lord the rest of the day? We need to live with the awareness of His presence, and spend time talking with Him about the things we encounter throughout the day. Reading your Bible is of course vital, but how will it change you if you forget it the moment you put it down? The most important thing is meditating on that Word throughout the day, and using it when we’re tempted or unsure of what to do next.

If we’re not sitting down to study God’s Word and speak with Him, our spiritual lives can easily shrivel up. But this is only the starting point to a life of living with the Lord’s Word in our hearts and minds, loving Him each moment and constantly giving ourselves to Him. And who can say we’re happy with our consistency in that area?