The best way to build a devotional life of reading Scripture and praying every day may seem counterintuitive. It is realizing that you don’t have to do it. You don’t have to read the Bible and pray every day.
Every morning, I spend time with my wife before we go to work. It is one of the best parts of my day. But there was a time when I treated it like an obligation to get through instead of something I got to enjoy.
That meant I would show up and go through the motions, but I would be thinking about what was coming next. Sometimes my wife noticed. She could see my legs start to shake and tell that I had mentally checked out and moved on to the next thing.
The big change happened when I realized that I did not have to spend time with my wife. I get to spend time with my wife. I get to enjoy a relationship with her. It became one of the best parts of my day.
Spending time with my wife is an obligation as much as it is an essential part of my life that I can’t imagine neglecting. I don’t spend time with her out of a sense of duty; I spend time with her because it’s essential to our relationship and a source of great joy. I wouldn’t want to live without it.
The same is true in our relationship with the Lord. If we open God’s word and pray because we feel like we have to, our devotional life will be driven by obligation instead of delight. We will go through the motions while thinking about what comes next. It becomes another item on our checklist instead of a privilege, one of the greatest privileges we get to enjoy.
When we approach our time with God out of hunger, desire, and delight, and a sense of privilege that we get to spend time with God, something shifts. Instead of approaching Scripture and prayer as a task to complete, it becomes a joy that we can’t imagine neglecting.
As the psalmist says:
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
(Psalm 119:14-16)
Believer, you do not have to open God’s word. You get to open God’s word. You get to hear from the Creator of the universe. You get to take in his wisdom, his word, and the amazing message of salvation revealed through Jesus Christ.
Believer, you do not have to pray. You get to pray. You get to speak with the God of the universe, the One who holds all things together and cares for you.
Spending time in the word and in prayer will not earn you salvation. Jesus Christ has already done that. The work is finished.
Instead, you have an open invitation to come near to him because of what Christ has done. Not to earn anything or cross an item off your checklist, but to enjoy God through his word and pray to the One who controls all things and loves you.
Do not treat your devotional life as an obligation. Treat it as one of the greatest joys in your life, something you simply get to do.
