Christians should cultivate a love for meditation, and cherish a spirit of devotion. Many seem to begrudge moments spent in meditation, and the searching of the Scriptures, and prayer, as though the time thus occupied was lost. I wish you could all view these things in the light God would have you; for you would then make the kingdom of Heaven of the first importance. To keep your heart in Heaven, will give vigor to all your graces, and put life into all your duties. To discipline the mind to dwell upon heavenly things, will put life and earnestness into all our endeavors. – Our Father Cares, p 23
It can seem cliche to say that those pursuing godliness should develop a devotional life. How many times have we heard someone speak on the need of getting into the scriptures more or praying more? In our modern day, we aren’t good at addressing things that are a known evil.
As Brené Brown has so clearly put it:
“We are the most in-debt, obese, addicted, medicated adult cohort in history.”
All of these things are literally killing us and tearing our lives apart, but we’re content to live in a self-destructive way.
We should be taking our personal spirit of devotion seriously. As seriously as someone who’s just gone to the doctor and has been given a bad prognosis with a direct admonition to change or else.
A lot of us have fed ourselves on the diet of busyness and entertainment. Switching to a more modest lifestyle of devotional broccoli doesn’t seem appetizing at first, even if it’s the rational, healthy choice. Us humans seem to need to experience tragedies in order to motivate change. How much better would it be for us if could enact positive change before serious loss?
God wants us to prioritize time communing with him, and has given us motivations that are both urgent and every day ordinary.
Certainly God paints a picture of the urgent for us: he’s coming soon, there are notices of grave deceptions, and the seriousness of the mark of the beast. All that is designed to catch our attention and trigger crisis avoidance.
God would much rather prefer that we changed because of the positive benefits we experience. Developing closeness with God is a thing. Character change and becoming a better person is a thing. Having God’s grace bring extra life into the things we do is a pretty cool thing.
Think about what you do and how you live life. Make time for the broccoli, and you’ll find that you enjoy it more than you thought you would.
Laying Foundations 