Or not.
I hope you cringed when you saw that title.
Why? What could be wrong with mini-devotions that allow today's teens (or mums, or business-men, or whoever) who lead crazy lives to get their fix of God?
Um, a lot. Here's the key reason:
They promote the idea that 5 minutes is all God deserves from your busy life. Think about it. God created you and loves you personally, so much that He gave His Son for you. But unfortunately, your busyness means you can only give up 5 minutes of your day to spend with Him. WHAT???!!!!! How is that honouring Him, loving Him? Why does your job, your school, your friends, deserve to be first priority, while He is only worthy of being pushed to the back-burner, the '5-minutes-if-I-get-time' slot?
This post isn't really about devotion books. It's about our attitudes. I know I'm guilty of this. When we're snowed under with school, we'd rather catch up on that essay than read our Bibles and pray. When we promise ourselves we'll have our devotion at night, but then our friend rings with a last-minute invite to dinner and board games, we jump right in. What does that reflect about our priorities, our value of God?
So the good news? We can change our behaviour until our attitude changes. (I don't think this has been tested directly, but it would be based of the scientifically-backed theory of cognitive dissonance - if our attitudes and behaviour are mis-matched, we want to change one to be in line with the other. So if we keep behaving against our attitudes, they'll probably eventually line up. Just don't forget prayer - it helps too. :D)
My next post will be about how we can change our behaviour so that it reflects better priorities. If you have any thoughts on how to remain consistent in devotions, please comment!
Cassie xoxoxo
P.S. I do think that there are cases where we legitimately might not be able to set aside a chunk of time to focus on God. And if we can't or forget till the next day, or something, it should not be a cause of guilt. I'll talk a bit more about this next post.
Dear Cassie,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for quite a long time now. (I actually met you many years ago at a bush dance, although I doubt you would remember me - it left a big impression for me however, as a lot of the other girls tended to leave me out of their circle, and you were very kind and friendly. So thank you for that - those little things really make a big difference.) I just wanted to say that you are encouraging me very much in my relationship with my Lord, and I especially needed this post (and look forward to your next ones!) as I know I struggle in this area a lot. Keep up the good work, Cassie! :-)
~ A sister in Christ
Oh my goodness, you have no idea how this encouraged me! Thank you so much!
DeleteNow I'm wracking my brains about which bushdances I've been to.... Hey, I'd LOVE it if you'd email me (the page with my contacts is linked to in the sidebar) so I can get to know you a bit! But if you don't want to do that, I totally understand. :)
Thanks again for your sweet comment!
Cassie
Yes! I have had these exact same thoughts! So true, Cassie, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete