"My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving" - Colossians 2:6-7
This weekend I had the great opportunity to serve at a church conference here in New York and it was life changing. From sun up to sun down, all the volunteers sewed into the Kingdom of God and there was an incredible harvest. The first night we were so exhausted and I woke up the next morning and realized I hadn't done my nightly devotional I had been doing for months. But I kept moving because I was running late and my mascara was doing that thing were all your eyelashes stick together.
The day continued and God was ever present. You could feel the Holy Sprit among the volunteer teams as He blessed everyone with some supernatural energy. As I witnessed people give their lives to Jesus and discover the love of God for the first time, the idea that I needed a devotional to feel His presence became utterly insane.
My foundation in God's love is solid. I can work in His field knowing He is not going anywhere.
When we are in a season of serving God's Kingdom we may not read a specific number of Bible chapters a night or complete our "Roaming in Romans" devotional (This is not an actual devotional. But if it were, I wouldn't recommend it because it sounds extremely dull.) But we will experience the presence of God in a far deeper way. Once we have become mature in our faith and are able to stand firmly on our foundation of Christ’s love we can begin to build up. Build out. And expand the field we work in.
New believers may find it beneficial, if not necessary, to develop a designated time for readings and prayer in order to create habits that encourage life change. But I want to speak to those of you who have been following Jesus for long enough that he is not just a green check in your YouVersion app. He is the foundation of your day. The foundation of your life. and the foundation of who you are. I am not saying we Christians should never read our Bibles, but to trust your faith and spiritual well being enough to know that you don't need a schedule to tell you when you are craving God's word.
At the church conference I sometimes found myself stepping outside the arena to read His word because I wanted to. Not because I was three days behind on my journaling. I wasn't studying His word, I was living it!
That's when it occurred to me, when we open our Bibles because we want to, and not because we have to, that's when we know our foundation of faith is strong enough to build up, build out, and serve wildly for His glory.
If you confidently declare Jesus as your Savior but feel like your relationship with Him may be reliant on a scheduled reading, writing or prayer, I encourage you to stop your schedule for a week and seek Him in new aspects of your life. Take a pause on studying for Jesus and begin living alongside Him because He will show up and He will expand your faith into new territories. Amen.