Devotions: Duty or Delight?

What do you do when you don’t feel like doing your devotions?

Let’s say, for example, that you end up with a later night than normal. This means that you will likely get up later than normal, which means no time for Bible reading or prayer. The day starts off in a flurry, and it doesn’t stop until the very end. You find yourself mentally and physically exhausted, ready to just go to bed. Then you see your Bible sitting right where you left it in the morning. You know that you should read your Bible, but it’s late and honestly you don’t feel like reading your Bible. What should you do?

Or let’s use another example. Let’s go to the opposite extreme and say it’s a day off. You sleep in much later than normal, then eventually get out of bed when the hunger pains overpower the desire to lay in bed. You shuffle downstairs, get something to eat, and while you are eating breakfast, begin scrolling through your phone. Two hours later you feel badly about how the day has gone so you start on a project so that you feel a little better about yourself. You alternate between productivity and leisure, and all day you think to yourself, “I have all day to read my Bible.” Finally the end of the day comes and, once again, you find yourself staring at an untouched Bible. You know you should probably read it now, but once again you feel badly that it’s this late and once again you just don’t feel like reading it.

So what should you do if you don’t feel like prayer and Bible reading?

Be a Hypocrite

Many people are hesitant to do their devotions if they don’t feel like it. After all, if they only read their Bible out of discipline, that would be hypocritical. Authenticity is all the rage these days. Reading my Bible if I don’t really want to read my Bible seems inauthentic. Warnings about checklist Christianity abound and are not entirely without merit. A Christianity that is based on merely doing the right things so that God will like me is no way to go about Christianity. But does that mean I should not read my Bible if doing so would seem fake?

In such a situation, I would encourage you to be a hypocrite. Now, obviously that is somewhat tongue in cheek. Doing something you don’t feel like doing because you know it is the right thing to do isn’t being a hypocrite. Being a hypocrite means doing something that you don’t really think is important because you want others to think well of you. Doing the right thing when you don’t feel like it isn’t hypocritical, it’s human. But if it feels like being a hypocrite, then be a hypocrite. Buckle down, get in the habit, make it happen. Make doing your devotions a disciplined part of your life.

So the first thing I would say is to do it, even when you don’t feel like it. Even if it’s not a delight, view it as your duty to spend a little time every day with your Creator. Now, I want to be careful here. I realize that nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Thou shalt read thy Bible every day.” I also realize that most Christians throughout history were illiterate and didn’t even own a Bible. I want to be careful not to bind consciences with weights that aren’t biblical. I don’t think you’ve necessarily sinned if a day goes by and you haven’t cracked open a Bible. But all too often one missed day becomes one missed week, which becomes a missed month. I have personally found that if I don’t work to regularly be in God’s Word, I won’t be in God’s Word at all.

Furthermore, I have found that continued time in God’s Word, no matter how distracted, imperfect, or faltering, makes a noticeable impact on my life. I find that if I want to be faithful in my Bible reading, or in leading my family in Bible reading, that Satan will throw everything he has at me. Sometimes forward momentum feels less like a confident marathon runner on mile 16 and more like a chubby junior higher half running, half stumbling down a steep hill. But God knows my frame. He remembers that I am dust. And I think that God is pleased when His distracted, busy, sinful children make an effort to give Him a place of priority, no matter how imperfect that effort is.

Work for Delight

So what should I do if my time in the Word feels like a duty rather than a delight? The same thing you should do in a marriage if you’ve lost the spark. You work to get back to delight. If you don’t look forward to time with God, please don’t think that I’m saying that doesn’t really matter. It does! But the question is, “What should you do about it?” The first thing you should do is read your Bible anyway. The second thing you should do is ask God to forgive you for having a hard heart and to give you a heart that loves Him.

One passage that I have found particularly helpful when thinking through this is Philippians 2:13. This important passage reminds us that “it is God who is working in you both to desire and to work according to his good purpose.” In other words, God gives you the ability to do what is right, but He also gives you the desire to do it. In my own sinful state, I don’t desire to do what is right, but God can change my wanter! So if you are struggling to be in God’s Word, make a commitment to read your Bible and pray whether you feel like it or not. Then ask God to change your heart so that you delight in and look forward to spending time with your Creator.

So should your devotions be a discipline or a delight? They should be both. The word “devoted” means that you have committed to someone or something. That’s discipline. It also often includes a strong emotional connection. That’s delight. So start with the discipline, and ask God to help you grow in your delight. Then watch with joy as God slowly, bit by bit, continues His work of remaking you into someone whose devoted, disciplined delight in Him proclaims to the world the greatness of your God.