In my experience, many people don’t do daily devotions because they don’t know how to do them. Do they drop their Bible to see where it randomly opens to? Do they choose a book and simply read through it? Do they pick up a devotional book and see where it leads them?
One of the best pieces of advice that I got was when I was in college. I was told (I cannot remember who it was from) to go through a book of the Bible and ask five questions of every passage that I read. these are the five questions:
What is the main point of this section of Scripture?
The first thing I need to do is to understand what God is saying rather than what I think it means. It does me no good to have my own interpretation but rather I need to seek what God’s point of this passage is. That means that I need to pray about what He is saying and ask Him to bring it to my mind.What does this text say about God?
The Bible is primarily a book about God revealing Himself to us. Salvation is primarily about us being restored to a relationship with God so that we can enjoy Him. The purpose of creation is for God to proclaim His Glory. Everything must be first and foremost about God and His glory. We are not the purpose of the Bible. The devotionals that focus only on us and applying truths to our lives are vastly off the path. The Bible is about God. So, that means that I need to ask every time what this particular passage is saying about God. Who is He? What has He done? How is this describing Him? How is He revealing Himself to these particular people in that particular time? How do I see this aspect of God in my life today? If we miss this question then we miss God and therefore the whole point of the Bible.What does this text say about Man?
The Bible is primarily about God but it is also about God’s relationship with Man. How does God relate to Man? What state is Man in? What does this text say about sin? What does this say about living out the image of God? What does this text say about us living in a community? We need to know what this text is telling us about ourselves. We need the good, the bad, and the ugly (even if the ugly is REALLY ugly).What does this text say about Salvation?
It is not enough to read the Bible to be convicting. Our devotional duty isn’t done merely when we feel bad for how we have lived. We need to run to the Cross. Whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, what does this text tell me about how I need to be saved? What does this text tell me about how I am saved by Jesus? What really happened on the Cross? What did Jesus’ death accomplish? How does God bring me to Himself?What does this text say about Sanctification?
Jesus’ death didn’t merely purchase our conversion but it also purchased our living the Christian life. How does this text show me what godly living is? What commands are in this text? What is obedience according to this text? There is a tendency in Reformed circles today to forget that God still commands Christians. The Law does not merely lead us to the Cross but the Law also shows us how we can live a life pleasing to God. Christians are still supposed to obey the Law. God’s Law shows us what God delights in and God’s Law shows us what the good life really is. We cannot forget this last question but we also cannot seek to fulfill this on our own power. We must prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to live this way and when we fail we must ask the Spirit to help us repent. The Cross doesn’t cancel our need to obey but rather empowers our obedience.