Friends, Christianity is neither a religion nor the product of reason. It is out of God’s love – it is passion that God incarnated himself in order to find sinners. The term “the Logos made flesh” refers to the effect that Jesus was delivered to us in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. There are two significant factors: ① time and space constituted the event and ② the event is concrete and existential. This is the Christian faith.

The Christian faith is a historical faith, not an empty and simply mysterious religious faith. The mystery element is beyond time and space; hence someone else’s experiences can be totally different from mine. However, the Christian faith is based on the incarnation of Jesus Christ, so it can be experienced, visible and tangible. Therefore, we should not conceptualise, rationalise or synopsise the faith. Instead, we should constantly experience this Living God. One of the most significant ways to experience the incarnated Jesus Christ is through devotion.

What is devotion? It concerns spiritual practice. For Christians, devotion is to know God through Bible reading, prayer, worship, reading and life issues. This gained knowledge enables us to know and love God more, our spiritual life continues to grow; and eventually, God may be glorified in our lives.

The primary approach of devotions – Bible reading and prayer

What are the major ways of devotions? It is Bible reading and prayer. Likewise, God also uses other ways to draw us near to Him and to know Him. As an illustration, during the Old Testament, man could know God through nature. When a human realises the beauty of nature, naturally one will proclaim, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” When people sees the heavens, the earth or beautiful scenes, they praise God from the depths of their heart. This is a way of devotion.  

Although in the Old Testament time people could draw close to God through festivals or Sabbaths, the most important way to draw close to God was through Bible reading and prayer. Bible-reading is reading God’s Word – as we read passages of Scripture, God speaks to us. Prayer is an outflow to God – we pour out to God and He listens; similarly, God speaks to us, and we learn to listen. This is a two-tiered experience and very important.

Do we need daily devotion?

Of course! The spiritual life of a Christian is like sailing against the current; either advancing or falling behind. To grow and progress spiritually, devotion is a necessity. We can compare prayer and devotion to breathing; and Bible reading to eating and drinking. We cannot live without breathing, feeding, or drinking; likewise, the spiritual life of a Christian cannot be without devotion. You can’t say, “I eat today, but not tomorrow. Now I breathe; the next moment, I don’t.” It shouldn’t be so! We need devotions daily, to “feed on” God’s Word daily, converse with Him daily, in order to understand His ways. When a Christian fellowships with God with such intimacy, their life will be different—their life will flourish and grow into Christlikeness.

Factors to improve the quality of devotional life

1) The time factor

In Genesis 19:27, it says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.” And in  Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

One of the most important factors cited in these two verses is before sunrise. Generally, early morning is our best time. We give our best to the Lord; on the other hand, we also understand God’s Word and pray to Him while we’re fresh and energised. As the saying goes, “An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening”. Hence, morning is the best time for devotions. When you come up in the morning, do not hurry to do chores. What is more important is to study God’s Word and talk to Him.

Secondly, you are unlikely to be disturbed by other things early in the morning. This is not only true for workers, but also true for housewives. Today, many housewives will rush to prepare breakfast for their families as soon as they get up from bed. Consequently, they are so tied down with household chores that they do not have time to be silent and read God’s Word.

Thirdly, before the start of the day, seek God first – seek God’s guidance, understand God’s will and draw from God’s power. Christians are to make it possible to spend time with God first because we know we can draw power, strength and wisdom from Him.

At the same time, this does not mean that there is no need to interact with God outside of the early morning. God is not bound by time and space, therefore, fellowshipping with God any time and anywhere should be our lifestyle and privilege. If you work best at night, it is practical to have devotion at night.

In summary, it is necessary to allocate time to fellowship with God. Of course, if your life has turned into a more mature stage, you can have fellowship with God at any time (which transforms our thoughts into prayers and devotion), and this is really wonderful.

2) The space factor

Jesus went to the “wilderness” for devotion; Moses also went to the wilderness to meet God. In principle, as long as that place enables you to be in quietness before the Lord and you enjoy fellowship with Him, that is your “wilderness”. It can be a study room at home, a quiet park, a fast-food restaurant in a busy city, or even at a train station. In principle, the location should not be too relaxed, lest you doze off. For example, if you awake in the bed and have your morning devotion, I’m afraid you might doze off again and fall back to sleep. At the same time, not a place too disruptive, lest you cannot keep up (for instance, you are in a noisy place that makes you impatient; thus, it will upset your devotion, and you cannot finish it). Thus, the space factor is also significant.

3) The attitude factor

The attitude of the one, who practices devotions, is more important than the time and space factors. Let us look at these two Psalms:

Psalm 1:2-3 say, “but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” And Psalm 19:9-10, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.”

Friends, it is found in the passage that the psalmist sees God’s Word sweeter than honey and more precious than gold—that’s the attitude factor. 

According to Psalm 1:2, if a person yearns for God’s Word and desires to have fellowship with Him, he will gradually overcome physical laziness and constantly meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. The more a person has fellowship with God, the more he will experience God’s goodness; after he has tasted, the more he yearns for fellowship with God. For instance, when you are in courtship, if every date brings a great impact in your life and you feel exceedingly great, then you will always be looking forward to meeting that person again. Similarly, when we taste the sweetness of fellowshipping with God, we yearn to fellowship with Him more frequently and willingly come before Him. Imperceptibly, this will transform objective faith into a subjective experience; it no longer remains as a concept or a rational thought. On the contrary, it is transformed into our life experience; and this life experience will be further transformed into a lifestyle.

We are truly grateful because God reveals His Word to us; the God we believe is the incarnated God, the God who manifests Himself to us; the God we are willing to have fellowship with. He came to the world on His own initiative; hence, we are to respond to His initiative and fellowship with Him. When someone shakes your hand, if you do not reach out your hand, there will be no a handshake. Similarly, if we want to experience God today, we must open our hearts and let God enter in, so that we can have fellowship with Him. We are willing to open His Word and allow Him to speak to us. We are willing to open up our mouths and pour out our heart to Him. Thus, such fellowship becomes “possible”; the faith of the Word made flesh will be realised in each of our lives. Let us practise devotions!

Indeed, we are grateful that the Word made flesh has become the foundation for us to stay connected and constantly in fellowship with Him.

Next week, our topic will be Devotionals. We will share on Bible reading and prayer. Please stay tuned.