At the same moment that Jesus conquered sin through His death, God tore the veil in the temple that separated the common courts from God's presence. This was done as a sign that we now have free access to His courts. What was once a taxing, expensive and time-consuming activity is now a free delight for all to experience.
Reading the Bible, worshipping God and praying to Him are simple and basic expressions of our devotion to the loving God who did anything and everything to commune with us. Acts 2:42 tells us that the early church "...devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
If we want to grow more in our relationship with God and consequently our whole life, we must grow in the area of devotion. To many, reading the Bible and praying are dull and repetitive duties with little to no value, but if we really understood this great privilege we have, we would never miss out.
The psalmist said it best when he wrote Psalm 84:10, "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere." To grow in the privilege of communing with God is the most valuable thing we can ever invest in.
How do we know if we are growing in our devotions? Here are 5 signs of an unhealthy devotion life, and how we can improve them.
Reading the Bible out of duty. When reading God's Word becomes nothing more than an item to be ticked off our to-do list, we miss the point. God's Word is life, a light unto our feet, and a double edged-sword. It is a wonderful thing to read God's Word and be reminded of His promises in spite of our unfaithfulness.
Missing out on quality time easily. If you find that it's easy to skip or completely remove Bible-reading from our day, we're slowly losing the hunger for God's presence. And it's clear that we all fall short of this, but the truth is that we can all grow more and more progressively in building strong devotion habits.
Devotions become solely about you talking to God. Prayer and devotions aren't all about us presenting our requests and wish lists to God. It's also about hearing His voice to receive His truth and edification.
Depending on secondary sources of God's Word. Commentaries, devotional materials, books and podcasts are great, but they are not good substitutes for the actual Word of God. We can supplement our Bible-reading with other materials, but we can never replace the thoughts of God with the opinions of others.
Cherry-picking verses and scriptures. God wants us to read and understand the entirety of God's Word, not just the ones that suit us best. We must learn to read and understand every word that God speaks.
