Out of Your Devotional Life

I posted recently about a Fanning the Flame CD our team spent time hearing.  The topic was “protecting the pastor’s time” and it focused on how the pastor must be allowed time to pray and study because (get this, it’s important):  his preaching must flow out of his devotional life.  If your pastor is not speaking with and listening to God, his preaching may be great public speaking, but it won’t be the Word that God wants you and your church family to hear right now.

The next thing that came to my mind is this:  all of us need to protect our times of prayer and study because:  the ministry we undertake must flow out of our devotional life.  Just like the pastor, if we are not taking time to listen to God and follow his leading, we may do a million “good” things that are not the task God has in mind for us, right here and right now.

It’s easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to give in to putting out fires and taking care of what seems urgent, instead of what’s truly important.  There are times when we need to step in, but often we create our own “emergencies” because we enjoy feeling needed and indispensable.  Maybe we even enjoy being the martyr who has to do it all because nobody else seems interested.  This isn’t just a modern day problem.  Remember what Jesus told Martha?

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;  one thing is needful.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:41-42

Mary was taking the time to listen to the Lord;  Martha was following her own agenda.  Letting our ministry flow out of our devotional life takes patience and discipline.  Sometimes it will require waiting for the Lord’s timing; sometimes it will make us uncomfortable;  but it can be done.  Help when you can, but don’t forget to make time for “the good portion.”

 

Piety and Me

We’ve been blogging about piety this month and my thought is this:  What does it look like in real terms?  I usually get this vision of a person standing or kneeling with their hands together as in prayer with this light shining off them or a halo over their heads.  Hmmm, maybe not.  OK, how about someone who is always doing something “Godly” like going to church, doing good deeds for others….  No…  How about a monk or a nun who never leave the convent or cloister?

Since we live in a world where we can’t all just run to the nearest convent or cloister, we have to look at this from a real-world view.  We can’t withdraw from the world and spend all our time praying to the Lord and studying the Word.  We need to support ourselves and our families.  So, what do we do?  What does piety really look like and how do we go about starting to live this way?

Let me preface this with the statement that this is my personal view on piety.  I’m still working this out in my own life, believe me, it’s a process and I know that I’ll never see an end to it.  Why?  Because there is no end until Jesus returns.

Piety is personal and is between a person and God.  A person may think that if they do an hour of devotionals in the morning and an hour of Bible study every evening, go to church 2,3, or however times during the week, that they are “pious”.  Not that doing all that is bad, that’s not what I’m saying.  But why are you doing it?  Are you doing all that to impress God?  You want a gold star at the end of the world and a pat on the head? That’s not going to happen.  Doing “works” is good only if it comes from the right place in your heart.  Doing something to impress God or others doesn’t cut it.  Jesus said it like this:

 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Matthew 6:5-6

I think that passage says more about personal piety than anything I’ve seen.  Pray in secret.  Just between you and God.  Stay humble.  Go to church, study the Bible, pray, do devotionals everyday or when you can.  Work it out in your life.  But keep it between you and God.  Cause when you start looking for pats on the head is when you are doing all this for the wrong reason.

Do I help or hurt the Church?

When you attend a Via De Cristo retreat weekend, you receive a little book called the Pilgrim’s Guide in Christianity which includes a variety and prayers and “helps” for your devotional life.  One of those “helps” is called Examination of Conscience.  In case you’re wondering what that is, here’s a definition:

Examination of conscience is a review of one’s past thoughts, words, actions, and omissions for the purpose of ascertaining their conformity with, or deviation from, the moral law.

Recently going over it, I realized that one of the categories listed has to do with the church, so I thought I would share it on the blog this month. The idea is to think about whether you have done, or neglected to do these things in regard to the church:

Have I, By Thought

• Thought of the church as a sect or party rather than as the mystical body of Christ
• Neglected to read or reflect on the Holy Scriptures
• Not held myself responsible for my part in the in adequacy of Christians

Have I, By Words

• Spoken of the clergy as “them” instead of “us”
• Criticized irresponsibly the leadership of the church, both clerical and lay
• Ignored the teaching authority of the church, replacing it with my own authority

Have I, By Acts

• Used church organizations to justify my own personal hang-ups
• Run away from trying to solve the church’s internal problems
• Acted to support the church only when it met my approval

Have I, By Omission

• Not tried to make the church more vital
• Failed to contribute sacrificially for the material needs of the church
• Neglected to pray for those in authority

This list isn’t even exhaustive, but it helps me realize that my support and appreciation of the church isn’t all it could be.  It’s a good reminder to help me strive to be a better member of Christ’s body.  Do you find this exercise helpful or not?  Please let us know.