Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Fitting God In
Mark Roberts first linked and commented upon a LA Times (shudder) article on "short" devotional books and habits. Here's the lead:
My initial reaction is that no habit starts out full blown. Smokers do not start at 3 packs a day. Even now, my eating problems do not come back in a day. I do not automatically transit from the healthy less than 2000 calories a day to the weight packing 5-10,000 a day of my greatest girth in a single day. It starts with that one extra "quick bite."
The road to a deep and meaningful devotional life must start somewhere, and if one-minute Bible readings is that somewhere, then I say great.
But the rub is, when it comes to our spiritual habits we never seem to move beyond there. I have been complaining and praying lately about my eating habits. You would think that after about 5 years of really working at this, eating well would now be my habit - but to the contrary immense concentration is still required from me daily to maintain healthy eating habits. I cannot seem to turn the corner when it comes to those habits.
And so it seems with devotional habits for so many, myself included. We never seem to turn a corner. In fact it never really becomes habit. We stay satisfied with our one-minute Bible readings.
To me, the key question is to find such an introduction that is as habit forming as that piece of cheesecake or that first cigarette. Shouldn't the abundant life of Jesus be that addictive? Is the "One-Minute Bible" that addictive? If not, why not?
Now that is a question.
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So you're racing through another jam-packed day, late picking up the kids from basketball practice because you got stuck at the office. You still have to pay the bills, walk the dog and perhaps grab cold pizza before collapsing into bed.The question is how to react to something like this. Is it good or bad. Well, in my book, like many things, its clearly neither.
When do you ever find time for God?
One publisher has the answer: "The One Minute Bible, Day by Day," whose brief readings promise to inspire your "daily walk with the Lord."
My initial reaction is that no habit starts out full blown. Smokers do not start at 3 packs a day. Even now, my eating problems do not come back in a day. I do not automatically transit from the healthy less than 2000 calories a day to the weight packing 5-10,000 a day of my greatest girth in a single day. It starts with that one extra "quick bite."
The road to a deep and meaningful devotional life must start somewhere, and if one-minute Bible readings is that somewhere, then I say great.
But the rub is, when it comes to our spiritual habits we never seem to move beyond there. I have been complaining and praying lately about my eating habits. You would think that after about 5 years of really working at this, eating well would now be my habit - but to the contrary immense concentration is still required from me daily to maintain healthy eating habits. I cannot seem to turn the corner when it comes to those habits.
And so it seems with devotional habits for so many, myself included. We never seem to turn a corner. In fact it never really becomes habit. We stay satisfied with our one-minute Bible readings.
To me, the key question is to find such an introduction that is as habit forming as that piece of cheesecake or that first cigarette. Shouldn't the abundant life of Jesus be that addictive? Is the "One-Minute Bible" that addictive? If not, why not?
Now that is a question.
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