The
Problem with Devotionals
I
strongly believe that every follower of Christ needs to have a habit of daily
Bible study and prayer. To be a follower
of Christ and not be engaged in daily renewing of the mind is an invitation to
spiritual malnourishment. On a daily
basis we are bombarded with the three opponents of our soul, the world, the
flesh and the demonic. The three of them
work in cooperation to separate us from our Heavenly Father. The renewal of our mind, the sharpening of
our conscience is a must for life in a fallen and sinful world.
Here
is the problem; a lot of these devotionals are garbage. Over the years I have
tried using a number of daily devotionals and I have yet to make it more than a
week with most. Many devotional guides
are hardly worth reading; in fact, they may do more harm than good. We might ask, “Isn’t it better to have any
devotional rather than no devotional at all?”
I don’t think so. A steady diet
of many daily devotionals would be the equivalent of eating nothing but Krispy
Kreme donuts. Don’t get me wrong, I can
love me some Krispy Kreme but a dozen piping hot fresh out of the icing shower doesn’t
make a balanced diet. Instead of nourishing
us with solid spiritual food, we get a valueless substitute, but are deceived
into thinking we are getting something worthwhile.
I
have three basic problems with most daily devotionals. And it has to do with their general
structure. They consist of a Bible verse
at the top of the page. A vague, highly
generalized prayer at the bottom of the page.
And in between the Bible verse and the prayer there is something between
vague inanities and un-noteworthy pabulum.
First
is the problem of “one versing” it. Even
the best devotionals rarely use more than a verse or two. It is extremely difficult to understand a
verse of scripture apart from the context.
The temptation is to pick and choose favorite verses that allow us to
ride a hobbyhorse. Taken out of context
scripture is often twisted away from its inspired meaning. Often times there are profound and wonderful
teachings of scripture that we miss completely because the devotional writer
failed to get the context that may have begun two chapters earlier.
Second,
we need to look at the “A prayer that fits everyone” problem. Some devotionals have no prayer others have prayers
that are so trite as to be utterly bland.
As I read over a number of prayers in one devotional I couldn’t help but
shake my head and think, “Why was this ever printed?” I don’t believe that the only way to pray is
with complete spontaneity. The model
prayer gives us the ideal that forms of prayer can be helpful. Prayer ought to cut us to the core of our
heart and challenge us by the glory of God.
Consider the contrast between these two prayers: From a daily devotional: “I thank you for all
the fish that paved the way for our success.”
From the ancient prayers of the church, “Imprint upon our hearts such a
dread of thy judgment, and such a grateful sense of Thy goodness to us, as to
make us both afraid and ashamed to offend Thee.”
As
if verses out of context and inane prayers are not enough the “Devotional
thoughts” complete the trifecta of shallowness.
In one devotional, the writer pulled from Peter’s sermon to Cornelius,
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism”. This magnificent passage about the gospel of
Christ being available to all humanity was used to introduce a story of how a
talkative person annoyed the author and how we should all be nice to each
other. Hold my barf bag, Felicia! A lady I know complained that most women’s
devotionals are little more that syrupy, saccharine, mushes of sugar or whine
fest about how bad life is. I don’t know;
I have not read any women devotionals. I
did read a macho, survivalist-type devotional.
I didn’t get past the comparison of Jesus going into the wilderness and
having a good rifle for a hunting trip.
Not
all daily devotionals are bad; My Utmost
for His Highest is a classic and has been a blessing for generations. What I am suggesting is the return to the
priority of Scripture. Rather than a
smattering lets have a big serving.
Rather than getting the pointless ramblings of well-intentioned people
let’s turn to the precise and insightful words inspired by the Holy
Spirit. If a devotional book places a
higher priority on the thoughts of the writer than the Word of God you don’t
need it. It takes more work to pour over
and study scripture, just like it takes more work to eat a fine steak than a
jar of Geber’s Baby Food. But you and I
both know it is worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment