Devotion Times that Count, part 4

Today I want to take a different approach in helping make devotional times spiritually valuable. The last three posts have looked at specific features, such as the relational nature of devotional times, the quantity of devotional times, and the quality of devotional times. Today I want to think about what is exactly commanded when it comes to these times. What does God actually call for, and what does that mean for the execution of a devotional time.

There is a reason I think this is important. The reason is the danger of legalism. Let me explain what legalism is because more than likely you don’t understand it. First, what is legalism not? Legalism is not having rules. Legalism is not abiding by self-imposed standards. There is nothing wrong with creating a self-made standard and conducting your life according to it. It is not even wrong to set up a standard for other people if you are in a role of authority. In my experience, many explanations of legalism are characterized by those features. Legalism only begins to happen when you start thinking or implying that you are either attaining or maintaining your justified position before God.

So you can see how legalism can infect a devotional time. A person can feel if they miss one time, or miss many times, or don’t do enough during their times, or are not “devoted” enough in their times, that God will begin to turn his back on them as well. They think God will pull away from them, ignore them, treat them as an unbeliever, and maybe abandon them altogether. This is legalism and it will suffocate all spiritual growth.

But as Romans 8:15 says, “You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again…” Justification is such that you don’t lose degrees of it when you sin. There is not a giant jar of justification and every time you sin, a piece is removed. God is not taking a step away from you each time you sin. Maybe even more amazing is that when you sin, you are not taking a step away from God either. Positionally, you are seated with him and that will never change. You are declared innocent, and that is as true when you are sinning as it is when you are obeying. Sure, on the relational level there are issues which God is going to deal with as a father. But positionally, you are as secure in your imputed righteousness and adopted sonship as Christ is secure in his intrinsic righteousness and eternal sonship.

There is a new kind of freedom operational in new covenant living. The old covenant had precise and highly detailed activities, times, and procedures. Every day the priests had to do certain things in certain ways. This is no longer the case for the new covenant church. There are commands in the New Testament, but heart issues are more prominent and they are far less precise so that the Spirit directs this obedience. To give you a feel, here is a short list of things that you must do to obey God in your devotional times.

1) Long for the word like a new born babe, 1 Peter 2:2
2) Be devoted to prayer Colossians 4:2
3) Don’t lose heart in prayer Luke 18:1
4) Continue in the Scripture 2 Timothy 3:14
5) Discipline yourself 1 Timothy 4:7,15,16
6) Meditate on Scripture Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1, 2 Timothy 2: 7

There may be more to add, but the main feature I want to highlight, as it regards the activity and schedule of devotional times, is the general and nonspecific nature of what God actually commands. While you should discipline yourself with a routine of scheduled devotional times, driven by an expectant and hungry longing, the actual schedule must not become an idol or be regarded as a necessity for staying in God’s favor. If God orders your day or week differently, and you cannot practically have a time of reading and prayer then that is ok. Why is it ok? Because you stand in grace, God hasn’t commanded you to do a devotion time every day, and because at all times you can pray without ceasing and apply the Word that is hidden in your heart. Should we strive for a scheduled time every day? Of course we should, and for similar reasons we eat every day. But just like there are days we can’t eat, God will give us days where we are giving food instead of eating food. This is one reason His Word should be richly abiding in us. Beware though. We can allow this to lull us into neglect, so vigilance is important. “Do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.” Galatians 5:13

One way to make your devotional times count is to make sure that they are times where your freedom in Christ is experienced, and they don’t become a burden of legalism.