This is the set up.
The room will be quiet. There will be a table with the laptop open. There will be a Bible open on a scripture. I will sing a song, then read the scripture. During that I might make notes on the scripture. I will pray about what I’ve read and also pray for my family, the church, the community in which I live, the wrk that I need, the ministry in which I serve, the world in which I live, the government who rules, those in positions of leadership and ingluence, and finally myself.
There. My time of devotion is done. I can get on with the rest of the day.
That was an imaginary scenario of someone’s typical approach to the time of devotion. I’ve attended events where in the morning people will gather for what is termed as the morning devotion which goes along similar processes.
I grew to understand what was meant by terming it along those lines. Having gained such an understanding, someone arrested the thought there and then.
Rather than post the entire one hour sermon by Keith Green called Devotion or Devotions, I’ll point you to the link of the video itself.
The point of it remains something that continues to agitate me. Devotion to God is not something I do at the start or end of the day. Devotion to God is all of life.
I got animated conversing with a friend, as he shared how all of life devoted to Christ allowed him to watch movies and get gospel links from it. These connections he could then make with friends whether believers or not to get them thinking on such things. That was it for me.
I know that a lot of my early years were spent making a neat division between God’s time, and my time, as though my life didn’t belong to God, or He should have been grateful to get what I was giving Him. As if I was doing Him a favour. Here you are Jesus, you get a whole day and first thing in the morning, now if you can just give me some peace for the rest of the day I’ll be happy with that.
I wasn’t overtly stating that, but my behaviour might as well have said that. It’s a thought that’s still evident. There’s a thinking that suggests certain things shouldn’t be said or done whilst ‘in the sanctuary’, but they are more acceptable outside of the ‘sanctuary’. As if God will strike you down for running in the sanctuary, but running elsewhere is cool with Him cos it’s not so bad. That applies to language we use, clothes we wear, etc.
It’s saying that holy time is special and sacred time, and all other time isn’t so dedicated to God.
It’s a thinking which all too familiar to me. Yet it is a false thinking. Jesus is Lord of all. That doesn’t just mean He’s Lord of all people. That means Jesus as Lord of my life is Lord of All My Life. Finances, relationships, pastimes, hobbies, diet, sleeping patterns, housing arrangements, vocational choices – the whole shabang. He is Lord of it.
Living a life of devotion acknowledges that, rather than seeking to turn that on its head.
I don’t make a big fuss of correcting people who have titles such as morning devotion. I make a big fuss of using it as a trigger for the day and night devoted to Jesus. It’s ot easy being consciously aware of that, especially when things get hectic and the pressure is on. Yet it proves time after time, to be a fruitful endeavour and is a good testimony of fruitful living in the light of Christ.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 
Hey Chris, I’ve been reading such a lot about this recently, especially from Alan Hirsch. This is dualism, a life in two parts where the holy and the worldly are separate (at least in our minds).
Dualism comes from the Greek thinking of 2000 years ago. Hebraic thinking is holistic, the Most High is involved in every little thing we do, all of it, the stuff that seems holy and the stuff that doesn’t.
One of the big problems with dualism is that it makes it very hard to connect with people in the world. They are not interested in church meetings, they are interested in living their lives with all the joy and pain and anxiety and good times and bad that life entails.
We try to draw them out into the ‘church’ sphere. Instead we need to go into their mess and our own and live it well, recognising the Lord’s involved in it too. Turn water into wine, turn the ordinary into the special – and they’ll notice!
I don’t know if you’ve read ‘The Forgotten Ways’. It’s an awesome book.
Hilarious you should mention Hirsch’s Forgotten Ways, that is the next book I am yet to read. It is sad how embedded dualism is in some of our expressions of church.
What helps is to know it’s not to be the case all the time. I thank God for insights into Jesus’ call not to live a dual life. Thanks as well for your encouragement and reminder of such things.
YES YES YES. This is the theme of the month for me. I’m reading & seeing it everywhere. no divide. all is sacred.
I am not more sacred/more spiritual when I am in my closet in the morning before the kids wake up reading, praying, writing, studying…than when I am washing dishes, playing games, teaching, cooking, shopping, whatever!
We have God’s FAVOR – His grace. We have His presence, we have His love. At *all* times. He is with us, always!
However, I personally do find that disciplining myself to make that time in the morning does set me up to deliberately be conscious of His ever-presence in my day. A body in motion stays in motion, type thing. To start there to make the habit does help me a lot….. and that’s sometimes the only time I get quiet… so young moms in particular – I think this discipline is crucial!
The start of this topic this month for me was Lecrae’s convocation speech at liberty university — I really enjoyed it – you prob. would too!
and it’s continued in *EVERYTHING* I’ve read this month.
God is SO amazing to give us plenty of opportunities to hear His message —- He won’t just say it once and we might miss it. He is the best teacher & Father ever!! ❤
Amen – what a good Father!
Like da man said – Amen! I just love this life with him, and with good brothers and sisters along the way too 🙂
another video on this subject too…
this video is about music specifically but talks about the secular/sacred divide 🙂