Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Semper Gumby | Part 3: The Plan | Part 4: Bible Reading

I find maintenance reading to be important in keeping the Word of God—all of it—in my head. But I also find that it’s not enough. I need to study the Bible—to settle in, dig deep, find out what it means, and merge it with my thinking in a more substantial way than reading a passage once a year can do.

So I devote a section of my daily devotions to digging deeper. It’s the longest section of my devotional practice, and even then I’m just scratching the surface. I’ve tried to make it more productive by making it a daily progression, building each day on a process that takes several weeks.

There’s something to be said for topical studies, including word studies; I’ve done a lot of those over the years. But typically my study time is spent trying to get my head around an entire biblical book. The length of time I spend in it will depend on the length of the book. One year I spent a month each on the twelve shortest books of the Bible. Right now I’m in the middle of two months on 2 Timothy. Here’s how I’m spending those two months:

• Day 1: Read & outline
• 2: Identify and highlight key words (I use Logos’s “Important Words Guide”)
• 3: Compare English versions to identify substantive differences (Logos “Text Comparison” tool enables me to do this quickly, but any parallel Bible will provide this information)
• 4-5: Identify textual variants (the easiest way to find the substantive ones in English is here)
• 6-43: Read commentaries and note key background and interpretive details (I have a lot of commentaries—about 50 that include 2 Timothy)
• 44-49: Diagram the book on biblearc.com to comprehend its structure and flow of argument (here’s my diagram of 2 Peter)
• 50-51: Note and evaluate instances of intertextuality (the book’s references to other biblical or extrabiblical writings—Logos’s “NT Use of the OT” tool is very helpful for this, but both NASB and CSB emphasize the NT citations of the OT typographically [NASB with ALL CAPS, and CSB with boldfaced type])
• 52: Write a thesis statement for the book, reflecting the key themes in the wording, and the organization in the sentence structure
• 53-56: Go through the file of notes I’ve been compiling, cleaning up the format and readability

I keep each month’s schedule to 28 days so it will work in February; the extra days in other months give me time to catch up or pursue things I’ve discovered that aren’t already given time in the schedule.

When I’m done, I have my own commentary on the book, with key features color-coded in highlighting. And the weeks immersed in the book reinforce its content in my mind in ways I wouldn’t be able to get from a century of annual readings.

This study takes about 25 or 30 minutes per day. The Logos tools I’ve mentioned—particularly the interlinear mode of the Text Comparison Tool—make some of it noticeably more efficient, and the time I save I invest in commentary study.

As to commentaries, let me make some recommendations—

• The best source, by far, for evaluating biblical commentaries is bestcommentaries.com. The site has a ranked list of commentaries for each biblical book (e.g. John). The rightmost column in the list identifies the type of commentary with various tags. I would recommend avoiding the “devotional” commentaries, because they often don’t answer the questions you have when you’re trying to understand a passage. If you have some training in biblical languages, the “technical” commentaries are quite valuable; if not, the “pastoral” commentaries are probably the best investment for you.
• I am quite fond of both the New American Commentary series and the Pillar NT Commentary series—they’re thorough and specific, and most of what they say is accessible to someone of average intelligence and without seminary training—if you’re willing to study. :-)
• Electronic is better than hard copy. It takes up no space and weighs nothing—and you’ll really appreciate that every time you move. Further, it’s electronically searchable, which makes it far more useful than hard copy. You can highlight it just like a book—and even better, you can change the highlight later if you want to. And finally, it’s often less expensive than the hard copy, both in manufacturing and in shipping.

⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Dt 6.6-9).

Study.

Part 6: Christian Reading / Music | Part 7: Prayer | Part 8: Conclusion

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Semper Gumby | Part 3: The Plan

Since the first means of grace is the Scripture, ingesting the Bible should be a key part of our devotional plan. I’ve divided that into two phases. The first is simply reading the Bible—typically not taking notes or looking things up, but just reading. I like to call this “maintenance reading”—just keeping the whole Bible reasonably fresh in my head, so it will constantly inform and direct my thinking and decision-making.

A lot of Christians like to read through the Bible every year. That’s an excellent practice, and one I typically follow, but again I should note that doing it is not a biblical command. It does make sense, though, to keep as much of it in your head as you can, and I’ve found that an annual overview works well.

Some years I’ll do something else instead. Once I decided to read through the Greek New Testament, and I realized that I would need to take a couple of years to get through it successfully, so for those two years I read just the New Testament for my maintenance reading. But most years I read through the entire English Bible.

I’ve also made a practice of reading in different translations. For several years I read a different version every year; now I’m going back over ones I’ve already read. (This year it’s the NASB 1995, which is the version my church uses.) I’ve done this for three reasons.

• First, as a Bible teacher, I often get asked
  about this translation or that one, and I felt the need to be in a position to
  give knowledgeable answers.
• Second, I found that if I read the same version
  all the time, I’d get familiar with the words to the point that my mind was
  more likely to wander as I read—and I’d get to the bottom of a page and realize
  I’d been thinking of something else through the whole page. Reading the same
  ideas in different words has helped me focus more consistently.
• Third, reading those different words often helps
  me notice different angles on various passages. Sometimes there are differences
  in meaning between the way different translations render the same verse. These
  differences usually come from one of two situations: 1) there’s a textual variant in
  the verse, or 2) there’s a word or phrase in the verse that is ambiguous and
  could legitimately mean two different things. In either case, I’m made aware
  that there’s an ambiguity, and I can look into it further using commentaries or
  other study tools.

I also like to vary the order in which I read the Bible. As you probably know, there are lots of Bible–reading plans available; they tend to get circulated on the internet every December, just in time for New Year’s resolutions. I’ve tried most of the ones that take you through the whole Bible in a year; in recent years I’ve read a passage each from the OT and NT every day; OT, NT, a Psalm, and chapter of Proverbs; through the Bible in chronological order; last year I used Trent Hunter’s Bible Eater plan; and this year I’m just reading straight through from Genesis to Revelation. Sometimes I plan a “day off” every so often, so I can catch up more easily if I get behind. I like all these approaches, and I like varying them. My regular Christmas present to myself is deciding what the next year’s plan will be.

This isn’t an ad, but I use Logos Bible software a lot—every day, throughout the day. It has a Bible reading plan generator that is infinitely customizable. I recently set up a plan to read through the “miscellaneous” sections of Proverbs one verse per day, so I could just focus and meditate on one proverb each day. Logos made it easy to do that.

You can get the Logos executable for free, along with a few free books to get started. What you pay for in Logos is adding books to your library. But they give away free books fairly frequently, and their catalog almost always has free items; it’s possible to get a reasonably useable program without spending any money at all if you’re patient, and if you have a few bucks, your library can be even bigger and more useful.

Another program, e-Sword, gives you a much more robust library for free; you might want to check that out as well.

Part 5: Bible Study | Part 6: Christian Reading / Music | Part 7: Prayer | Part 8: Conclusion

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Semper Gumby

I’ve noted already that your devotional time should be purposeful. So what is its purpose?

I’d suggest that the purpose is pretty simple: to support and increase your intimate knowledge of God so that you can serve and represent him as he wishes, for the promotion of his glory.

As we’ve seen in an earlier series, that knowledge of God grows primarily through the means of grace: Scripture, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. Since your devotional time must involve some private activity, it will likely be focused on the first two of these; it will involve time in the Scripture and in prayer, and it should issue in private worship.

Over the years I’ve tried different ways of exercising these means of grace. For most believers it starts simply; you should take baby steps, lay out achievable goals, and build some momentum by seeing some consistency in those little victories.

So as a baby Christian, my first need was just to do something involving Scripture and prayer, and to develop a pattern of doing it regularly. Daily is great, but regularity of any kind is a step in the right direction.

Over the years, as your maturity and discipline increase, the pattern may grow more complex, or it may simply involve a bit more time. But it will develop and change.

I’ve found that a difficulty with regular devotions is keeping it fresh. When I was younger, I needed more variety in my life than I do now; in fact, I rather enjoy the familiarity of a regular system these days. But every day I need to keep my easily distracted mind focused, and I find that varying things one way or another helps with that. I’ll note some of those variations as we proceed through this series.

Right now my devotional time has these primary sections, derived from the purpose stated above.

• Bible reading
• Bible study
• Christian reading
• Music
• Prayer

I’ll describe each of these in further detail in future posts.

As to overall pattern, I’ve settled on a daily frequency, for the simple reason that I need the daily workout. Almost daily I tell myself, “Dan, you’ve been a Christian for 60 years. You ought to be better at it than this.” I regularly surprise myself by the ease with which I turn from the path; I am indeed “prone to wander.” So I return to my spiritual roots every day to drink from the fountain of God’s grace.

I’ve also settled on having devotions first thing in the morning. I wake up quickly and happy—something that irritates people, I know—and the fact that I have a clear mind and a spirit of energetic hopefulness for the day ahead means that it’s a good time to meet with God.

A word about that waking up business. I know that people are all different, and I really don’t think this is a moral issue. I’ve noticed over the years, however, that our culture puts a lot of pressure on us to stay up late enough that it’s not likely that those of us with 8 am commitments are going to get 8 hours of sleep, which is what most people need to function at their best level. A while back I decided to make that a priority, and I go to bed earlier than most people.

Sure, that means no more late-night TV, but there’s nothing much worth watching there anyway. And little to no late-night sports, but the highlights will be on YouTube first thing the next day (actually a lot sooner than that). And in return for those trivial sacrifices, I get a full night’s sleep and wake up energetic and happy.

For me, it’s a no-brainer.

I didn’t used to be a morning person. I wonder how many people think they’re not a morning person when they actually could be.

Again, not a moral issue. There’s no particular virtue in being like me. But the change has made a remarkable difference in my day-to-day experience—of devotions, and of a lot more.

Next time we’ll begin looking more closely at the components of one Christian’s devotional practice.

Part 4: Bible Reading | Part 5: Bible Study | Part 6: Christian Reading / Music | Part 7: Prayer | Part 8: Conclusion

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Part 1: Introduction

The fact that there are false ideas and legalism about our practice of personal time with God is no indication that we shouldn’t have such a time, or that we shouldn’t take it seriously.

What are some indications that you take it seriously?

• You make it a priority. You engage in it even when there are other things that need doing, or when it’s inconvenient. It may even require you to sacrifice some other activity—or maybe it won’t. But you’re determined to get it done.
• It’s not haphazard. It’s not going to happen just once in a blue moon, when you happen to think about it, or when some sermon or group Bible study makes you feel guilty. It’s probably regular—every x period of time, and lasting for y minutes, give or take—but maybe not, if your daily schedule is less predictable than average.
• It’s purposeful. You have an end in mind—personal closeness with the Father, Son, and Spirit, and preparation for effective service to and for them—and you keep that goal in mind as you proceed.
• It’s thoughtful. You put mental effort into planning and designing it; you seek input from other believers, whether in person or in writing, and you consider how those practices might or might not help you reach the goal.
• It’s practical, flexible, and creative. You try new things to see whether they’ll move you toward the goal, and you cast off practices that don’t seem to do that. Continuous improvement. ISO 9000.
• It’s personal. As I’ve noted earlier, it’s more like a date than a business meeting. You protect it from becoming routine or mechanical; you seek God’s presence, and you delight in it.
• It’s real. As in a marriage, you have your good days and your bad days, but the relationship persists.

What this means is that the way you have devotions will probably change over time, as your life circumstances change—

• I have a job with predictable responsibilities and hours; my schedule changes somewhat every semester, but for that semester it’s pretty much solid. Back when I was working in retail or in food service—boy, that was a long time ago—I had a different schedule every week, and I just had to pretty much figure life out a few days at a time.
• Over the years my family circumstances have changed. When I was single, I had a lot more flexibility in my schedule; when my wife and I got married, we had to consider one another. Then when the kids came along, well, it was just chaos for a while, and parents have an obligation to prioritize the health, safety, and general well-being of the little progeny. Now our kids are both grown and taking care of their own responsibilities, and we have more schedule flexibility again. We can go to bed when we want, and nobody’s going to keep us up half the night. Probably.

Devotions for a young mom are going to look very different from what I do, and there ought to be no guilt for either of us regarding those differences. You evaluate your circumstances, you calculate what you need, you lay out a plan to meet those needs given the circumstances, and you do the best you can. You try to be consistent, but exigencies happen, and God knew they were going to happen—in fact, ordained that they would happen—so you go with the flow and keep your thoughts Godward even in the middle of the maelstrom.

It’s about the relationship, not the details of your carefully designed process.

Now, I’m about to appear to contradict myself.

I’d like to take a few posts to lay out what my devotional life looks like at the moment.

It’s not a pattern for anybody else; in fact it’s not even a pattern for me, in the sense that it changes all the time, as needs require and as insights provoke. But it’s an opportunity to demonstrate how and why those changes occur, and how I’ve adjusted the process over the years. And since we’re supposed to “stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb 10.24), perhaps something I share might stimulate your creativity and inclination to try something a little different.

Might make a difference for you, or you might try one of my ideas for a while and decide to go back to what you’ve done before. But we’re all in this together.

Part 3: The Plan | Part 4: Bible Reading | Part 5: Bible Study | Part 6: Christian Reading / Music | Part 7: Prayer | Part 8: Conclusion

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In the series just concluded we’ve seen the importance the Scripture places on its own role in a successful life with Christ. If a believer’s life is all about walking with God and serving as his ambassador (2Co 5.20), and if God reveals his personality and his ways and wishes in the Word, both living (Jn 1.1ff) and written (2Ti 2.15; 3.15-16), then we need to know what the Scripture says. And the only effective way to do that is to read and study it.

That obvious truth has led to the common practice among Christians of “having devotions”: spending time, usually daily, reading the Bible and praying. The practice has different names; some call it “personal Bible study”; a camp I know of calls it “God and I Time.” I like the term “devotions” because it’s concise and simple; because it enfolds multiple practices, beyond just Bible reading; and because it points to the primary purpose of the exercise.

I’d like to share some thoughts and experiences about the practice, both to motivate my fellow believers and to stimulate creativity in their choices.

I think it’s important to start by casting down some idols.

Most Christians have difficulty distinguishing their religious heritage from biblical command. By that I mean that if we’ve practiced our Christianity in certain ways for a long time, we’re prone to think of that practice as a biblical requirement. It may be, but not necessarily.

For example, the Bible does clearly command obedience and the knowledge of the Scripture that informs that obedience. There are many self-described Christians today who don’t know what the Bible says and don’t seem to feel any compulsion to evaluate their thoughts and actions by any sort of direct biblical standard.

That’s wrong.

On the other hand, there are common devotional practices that are well and good, and appropriate for many Christians—that’s why they’ve become common practices—that the Bible doesn’t specifically command. And we shouldn’t burden believers with unbiblical yokes (Ac 15.10). God doesn’t like it when we say he commanded things that he didn’t (Mt 15.9; Ti 1.14; Rev 22.18), even if we have the best of intentions.

Over the years I’ve heard “commandments of men” such as these:

• You have to have devotions every day.

Granted, knowing what the Bible says, and integrating it into your life, and applying it every day, is going to take some time and effort, and daily interaction with the Word is a great way to do that. Excellent practice. But your life circumstances may not allow that—I’m thinking of the mother of newborn quintuplets—and nothing in the Scripture suggests that missing a day is going to bring God’s judgment by way of bad Christian “luck” today.

• You have to have devotions in the morning.

It’s true that David often had prayer time in the morning (Ps 5.3)—in fact, he sometimes had it three times a day (Ps 55.17)—but the fact that a person in the Bible did something a certain way doesn’t necessarily constitute a biblical command for all believers. It certainly makes sense to start your day—every day—in the Word, but some people just don’t function well in the morning, and God knows that (Ps 103.14). I suspect he’d prefer to spend time with us when we’re functional. (Similarly, I’ve heard it taught that “you ought to give God the best time of your day”—again, excellent advice, but not biblical mandate. In fact, you ought to give God your whole day, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

• You should do devotions the way this really spiritual person does.

It is a biblical mandate to encourage one another to love and good works (Heb 10.24), and Paul does tell the Corinthians to follow his example (1Co 11.1), and mutual encouragement within the body is a thing (Eph 4.29). But the Bible also says that God has made us all different—the first thing the Bible tells us about God is that he’s creative (Gen 1.1)—and gifted us individually in different ways (Rom 12.4-8; 1Co 12.4-31). It’s also true that your walk with God needs to be personal to you and not just corporate, though there is certainly a corporate aspect—the church—to our relationship with God. I’d suggest that the way you do devotions might be unique to you, though you might well profit from the examples of others in various respects.

We’ll continue these thoughts next time.

Part 2: Semper Gumby | Part 3: The Plan | Part 4: Bible Reading | Part 5: Bible Study | Part 6: Christian Reading / Music | Part 7: Prayer | Part 8: Conclusion

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