Going Directly to God

Photo: Jamiesrabbits

Christian publishers are in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to publishing devotional books for men. The data tells them that, in general, men don’t read, but they still want to provide good quality material for those who do.

Throw in the fact that we, as men, seem to be busier than ever, and we end up with book titles such as, One-Minute Devotions for Dads, 5-Minute Bible Workouts for Men, 5 Minutes a Day: 365 Daily Devotions for Men, Five Minutes in the Bible for Men and One-Minute Pocket Bible for Men.

Devotional material, short or otherwise, is fine. It can be an appetizer that prepares us for the main course. But devotional material makes a poor substitute for the main course.

In his book, Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups [Revised], Richard Foster tells the following story:

I know two brilliant Christians who come to the daily morning devotions without their Bibles. They can meditate, they say. They are both shallow. For they mediate God to themselves through their own thinking – they become the medium. They do not go to God direct as they imagine – they go through their own thinking; they become the mediator. That is why we have to have the revelation of God through the Word. It is God interpreting himself to us. His interpretation of himself is Jesus. When you expose your thinking to him, you expose yourself to God.

I say this as someone who has written a number of devotional books – if you are pressed for time on any particular morning (or evening, or whenever you do your devotions) and have to skip something, skip the devotional book you are using and spend your time in the Word.