Devotions: An Intimate, Adventurous Daily Bible Study
Many of us read the Bible daily as an act of devotion, love and submission. We do it out of understanding the benefits it may have and sometimes we do it out of legalism. Do we understand that "devotions" are a form of Bible Study and should be taken SERIOUSLY?
How should devotions be done? What should we expect to receive? Do we expect anything? Is it presumptuous to expect immediate benefits? Do we anticipate NOTHING because it is merely "devotions"? Would we expect more if we considered it to be “Bible Study”? Why not? Let's do!
I believe that devotional reading should have focus and a spirit of adventure. Each chapter of the Bible contains something of benefit for everyone. We may learn how God deals with people, their attitudes, their repentance and their stubbornness. We may learn how to respond to God by learning from Bible characters' successes and failures. We may learn how God feels about things by His actions or responses to situations. This is Bible study if I remember correctly!
Everyone is different and should find a plan that works best for them:
- Some of us like to read several chapters a day.
- Some like to read one chapter.
- Some of us are using a plan to read the Bible through in one year.
- Some of us have no plan at all and just jump to whatever chapter interests them.
Devotions are important and can make a significant impact on your life if you remember that Bible reading is Bible Study. Here's the key to advance devotions from drudgery and aimlessness to a respectable level of Bible study: simply take 20-40 seconds to REFLECT on what could be gleaned.
Don’t let the words pass through your eyes and hit the back of your skull without allowing your brain to process it! Remember to avoid the superstitious approach. Half a minute of reflection with the Bible open may initiate 5-20 minutes of mediation while you wait to fall asleep (or hours during the day if you read the Bible in the morning). What benefit 30 seconds can reap!
Devotions should conclude with commitments. Doesn’t devotion mean that you are devoted to the One you are reading to please? Make a commitment to make a commitment before you close your Bible. By simply allowing the Word of God to take authority in your life, your devotions promote themselves to a noble form of Bible Study.
Proverbs 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." (KJV)