February 5, 2012

One of my college roommates worked at a sandwich shop when we were in school.  He was fascinated by the fact that many of the customers came in at the same time every single day and ordered the exact same menu items without fail.  One prominent member of the university community came and ordered his turkey sandwich on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and mustard every single day.

            There are some people for whom this works well.  Others need more variety in their lives and, while they might be adequately nourished by eating the same thing each day, they prefer to switch it up at times.  I think there can be a parallel when it comes to our daily spiritual nourishment.  Sometimes we need to bring some variety into our spiritual diet.

                 This is the time of the year when our good intentions sometimes prove to be insufficient.  People often begin a new year with a great plan to read the Bible, to journal, to use a particular devotional book, or engage in some other method of personal spiritual growth.  Then they get stuck.  For some reason, the practice becomes increasingly more difficult as the weeks pass.  This has happened to many sincere Christians.   Compounding this problem is a feeling of guilt.  We think, “it’s been five days since I read my Bible.  I’m too far behind now.  Oh well, I gave it a try…,” and we quit, disheartened by our failure to follow through on our plans.

         I want to encourage you to press on!  In these days we are living in, your daily time with the Lord is too critical to let slide.   Instead of sticking to one particular method for your daily quiet time, consider some other ways to get fed.  For example:

         -          Follow daily readings in a One-Year Bible or other reading plan

-          The Upper Room daily devotional (available at the church for free)

-          Our Daily Bread daily devotional (also available at church for free)

-          The SOAP Bible Study method (read a chapter in the Bible and journal observations, application, and prayer related to a particular verse)

-          Listen to a radio devotional (David Jeremiah is fantastic as are Charles Stanley and Erwin Lutzer.  All of them can be heard on 91.5 FM)

-          Take a prayer walk

-          Sign up for an email devotional to be sent to you (www.crosswalk.com has several that you could choose)

-          Pick a Bible verse and read it in several different translations such as the NIV, The Message, NLT, NRSV, Contemporary English Version, etc.

 The practices listed above might be helpful for you sometimes. If you have already found something that consistently works for you, by all means, stick with it.  As your pastor, my biggest concern is that you do not experience spiritual starvation.  After all, our Lord himself said:

        Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  (Matthew 4:4)

See you Sunday,

Robert