Devoted

I was privileged to grow up in a Christian home. From the time I was 5 years old going to church was important to my family, and it was a regular part of every week. We did not just attend because it was the thing to do, we attended because my parents each had a personal relationship with God and saw church attendance as pivotal to fellowship and growth. We were involved in mid week church activities; and my parents attended Bible studies and were involved in church leadership. However, Family Devotions were an elusive part of our family life. Family Devotions were not something to look forward to, they were something we all dreaded. Devotions were even something that were pulled out when we were all being rotten! The kids are behaving badly? Let’s have a family devotion! There is nothing that makes you dread spending time in the word more than being sent there so that you “could think about what you have done”.

 

 I don’t believe that this is the spirit in which God wants us to spend time with Him. While the word of God is designed to point to the sin in our lives, it is also meant to encourage us in our faith by helping us to see the promises of God and how he has worked over time in the lives of his people, as well as how he has worked through His son, Jesus Christ, to redeem the world. It is so much more than a reprimand.  It is my delight.  I delight in chocolate so I eat it. I delight in spending time with my sister, so I make time for it.  I delight in walking my dog, so we walk. If I delight in God’s word, I will choose to make time for it. Psalm 1:1-3 says of those who choose to walk with God,

“But they delight in the law of the Lord,
    meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
    bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
    and they prosper in all they do.”

I desire to be delighted with God’s word and time spent with Him, yet the delight doesn’t always translate into time. The desire to spend time with God is something that seems to have an ebb and flow in my life. There are times when I crave that intimacy with Him, and times when I am there out of obedience.  Each has a place, and blessing abounds because he is a good and faithful God who desires my devotion; Devotion to Him, not devotions for the sake of duty.