This is one of those things that has been so subtly under-minded by our culture that it is both shocking and eye-opening when Christians see it in the light of scripture. Why? Most all of the devotional materials you will find in the Christian marketplace are formed around a basic pattern. It goes something like this:
- Look at a passage
- Summarize it or restate it in an interesting or engaging manner
- Talk about or write about a really great way that you can apply that passage to your life
This is the basic pattern found in 95% to 98% of the devotional materials out there. No one questions it and so it continues. In
Matthew 22:35-40 Jesus answers a lawyer's question about the greatest commandment. Jesus' answer is instructive for us when we think about approaching scripture. But first let's think about people that we love and letters that we get from them. When you read a letter from someone you love you don't try and come up with some great way that you can apply that letter to your life. You read the letter to know the person that you love better. The person you love may express hurt or concern about something and you will immediately apply that to your life without even making any effort to do so. You see if you love someone you don't want to hurt them. You want to please them because it makes you happy to bring pleasure to the person you love. Back to Jesus' comments. He said in this passage that to love the Lord your God was the greatest commandment. Applying scripture to my life is not so much about loving God as it is loving myself. Granted we are seeking to grow and may even achieve a certain level of growth using this method, but the ultimate growth pattern we long for will elude us. We will develop far more quickly and far more richly in our relationship with God through devotions if our focus is on Him. In the previous example God becomes a means to an end and the end is us. Devotions that are God focused will look something like this.
- Summarize the passage (This is something I do to boost my attention while I am reading)
- Write down what you are reminded of about God or see about God
Try it! Even the begats start to hold real meaning when our goal is to see how they reveal God to us and not how they apply to our lives.
This is life changing! I have used it with Genesis 12 and 13 (the life of Abram.) Reading the Bible from the standpoint of discovering who God is, makes sense of all the bible! It is difficult to remain an infant christian when you have this focus. Thank you.
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