Devotional or Distraction?

As a person who writes about my faith in Jesus Christ and my relationship with Him, the following statement may come as a shock:

Christian devotionals (more often than not) irritate me.

I cannot count the number of devotional books, devotional posts on the internet, and devotional-ish Christian books that I have read. Of course I would never have consumed any of these writings if they did not cover topics or ideas that seemed interesting to me. After reading them, however, the lasting result is usually distraction rather than a deepened devotion to Christ; And isn't devotion to Christ supposed to be the whole purpose of devotionals?

As Christians we have to be discerning about that which we consume and discerning about that which we produce. A book may come from a Christian store and may be recommended by Michael W. Smith or Reverend Billy Graham, but that does not mean that it is the truth. Further, your pastor may teach some line of thinking as the Christian leader of a Christian church, but there is no guarantee that what he teaches is truth. We have to do the research ourselves like the Bereans whom Luke mentions in Acts 17.

 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true " - Acts 17:11

We have to vigilantly pray for wisdom and understanding.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." - James 1:5

 Likewise, we cannot give advice to others and expect that whatever we think and say is solid simply because we are Christians. We have a responsibility for the message that we communicate about Christ. This is a responsibility to question whether our messages line up with the truth of God’s Word and correct ourselves quickly when they do not. Representing Christ is not something to do flippantly and fearlessly.

This brings me back to my growing irritation with devotional type materials. These sorts of materials can be distracting for various reasons. Sometimes they have the elements of Biblical truth mixed in with beliefs that are contrary to the Scripture. A little truth among lies is more detrimental to us than helpful. Other times these sorts of materials might be truthful but point the reader toward the author rather than toward Christ. These materials sometimes scream and sometimes whisper, “Look at me! Look at me!” When I read/hear/witness these messages I often find myself immediately annoyed and turned off because of the messenger or I find myself comparing myself to them, as if they are the standard. The latter might not be the messengers fault but my own. This is for me to pray about and discern. Either way, I have to be careful that I’m actively looking back to Christ and not to the messenger or myself.

John the Baptist said, “I must decrease that He (Christ) might increase.” – John 30:30

That should be the goal of each one of us who proclaims love for Jesus Christ. That desire within our souls is our response to the Gospel of Christ. Through the power of God, we willingly lower ourselves, as Christ did while on Earth. In our lowering, Christ is lifted up. He gets the glory. This is so much easier said than done, I know. Humbly lowering self requires a daily encounter with the Holy Spirit so that Christ’s power can overrule our human nature. It is challenging, but it is not impossible.

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” – Matthew 19:26

In our self-serving culture, Christianity has been infiltrated with the message that we need assistance and immediate satisfaction. Though the Bible is the sole tool that God has given us for relationship with Him, we generally turn to assistance through devotionals, advice from others, and our ever-convincing-usually-deceiving feelings. 

However, what if the Bible was really ALL we had? What if we didn’t have church, devotionals, online sermons, Christian radio and music, peers, mentors, and comfort? What if we only had eyes to see with, a mind to read with, and the Bible? What would our relationships with Christ be like in this scenario? Would we grow or give up? I’m asking you this because I’ve been asking myself this.

I believe that this particular scenario would start out feeling impossible but would lead to spiritual renewal and a growing intimacy with our Savior because this scenario requires complete dependence on the Lord. All crutches and distractions would be removed until we are brought to the ultimatum of despair or desperately seeking Christ.

I’m not advocating you become a recluse, but I am advocating that we get back to the basics of seeking Christ by fully relying on Him to provide us with the understanding we need to study His Word and thus grow in His knowledge, truth, and love. Getting back to the basics requires the only adequate response to the Gospel that we can choose: humbly lowering self and allowing Christ to be lifted high. We are required to surrender and to sacrifice our own comforts, pride, and solutions so that we may gain the comfort of His presence and the desire to glorify Him.

Christianity is not about Christians; it is not about Christian devotionals, biographies, music, movies, or mentors. Christianity is not about our Christian verbiage, behavior, or service. Rather, Christianity is about laying our lives down in response to Christ’s laying His life down for us. We do so through Christ’s enabling power and for His enduring glory.

By writing this I am running the risk of losing my entire audience. If that happens, so be it as long as you read the Bible instead of my posts. Should you choose to continue reading what I write, my only requirement is that you question my words with God’s. Look to Him and not to me because seriously, it would really irritate me if I ever became a distraction for you.


*Note: The two devotionals that really do not irritate me are Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" (utmost.org) and Elisabeth Elliot's daily devotional (elisabethelliot.org/devotional.html). I recommend these to accompany and/or inspire your Bible studies.

Sanctified and Surrendered by Caitlin Marie Stacy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.