Devotional for April 7
April 7, 2008 by Dan
“Giving all diligence, add to your faith….temperance [self-control]“ (II Peter 1:5-6).
When we add self-control to our faith it goes without saying that every area of our life will improve. Self-control is the path to a meaningful, joyful and useful life. With self-control the spiritual life will flourish, health will improve, work will be satisfactory, abilities will be maximized, finances will be kept in order, relationships will be pure, the temper will be tamed, words will be moderated, priorities will be right, and life will be balanced.
Of first importance in this list is our spiritual life which thrives when we order our daily schedule in such a way as to make time to seek God in solitude with meditation and prayer. But this is where the average Christian fails. And when failure happens here, potential failure arises from every direction. When Samuel Logan Brengle was once asked what his greatest temptation was, he answered, “To start my day without God, and when I yield to this temptation, I become vulnerable to ten thousand additional temptations.”
All that stands between many sincere Christians and a dynamic spiritual life is a daily dose of self-discipline. And really, this is not an insurmountable obstacle. The attitude must be taken that whatever else happens in a day, the believer will spend time in the secret place with the Lord. If a meal needs to be missed, a little sleep denied, or a fond activity passed up, one will be more than amply rewarded for the deprivation.
Do I take the approach that “I have many important things to do today, and if I have the time, I will work the Lord in.” Or do I say, “I have one important thing to do today—to seek the Lord, and if I am diligent in this matter, then I know everything else of importance will follow in its course.” This is the path that Christ prescribed for us (Matthew 6:33).
When Bill Hybels wrote the book, Too Busy Not To Pray, he had this disciplined and focused approach in mind. Martin Luther was in the habit of saying that he had so much to do that he must spend extra time in prayer. Most of us, on the other hand, find it easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we are so busy working for the Lord that we don’t have the time to be with the Lord. This is a mistake of grand proportion. We never are working better for Him then when we are daily disciplining ourselves to be with Him.
Dan,
This devotional was gripping. I appreciate the manner in which it was written. This was a truly challenging devotional! I’m interested to see what the next devotional will be.