Getting All Devotional

Ready to Begin

Dec 29, 2023

Three days to go.

In three days you’ll get your first daily devotional delivered to your inbox.

Here’s a thought to frame how you begin, and some practical advice on getting started. If you’ve not done a devotional before (and are short on time right now), skip to the practical advice below (Nine Tips…).

Entering His World

A year ago I read Eugene Peterson’s biography. For those of you who don’t know him, Eugene was a Christian pastor and author, most famous for translating the entire Bible into contemporary language in The Message. One of the things that stood out to me was how he went on a journey with the Bible. As a young man, he viewed the Bible very much as something to be studied, questioned, and understood. It was a comprehension exercise, building his mind with increased knowledge.

The aim was intellectual mastery.

But something changed as he got deeper in. His biographer, Winn Collier, put it this way:

“The Bible — as Eugene had known it — offered principles of moral living, artillery for theological skirmishes, and clichés providing therapeutic salve. His church had implicitly used it as a textbook or occasionally even a weapon, but no one had ever guided him into the wonder, beauty, and artistry of the ancient pages. It had been a thing to use, to master. …[Now], he saw Scripture as a world to be entered.”1

A world to be entered.

Eugene was learning to enter the world of God. He was becoming a disciple.

The scholar can learn the stories; the disciple lets the Story become their own.

The scholar studies the words; the disciple lets the words study them.

The scholar lives in the ways of the world while learning about the heavens; the disciple lives the Way of heaven in the midst of a hurting world.

From earth towards heaven?

Or from heaven towards earth?

This is the core purpose of a devotional. To shape our every day by immersing ourselves into the life and ways of God through the pages of the New Testament. To let His thoughts become ours. To live like those that are already seated with Christ.2 To enter His world that His world may enter ours.

This is why we read.

It’s further up and further in.

Nine Tips for Going the Distance

If you’ve never had a regular pattern of Bible reading, here are some pointers that can be the difference between devotional flow and dropping out by February. Getting a good plan in place for 1st January will mean you hit the ground running.

Time of Day. Find a time that works regularly for you. For most people, the morning is best. It shapes the rest of your day, the house is quiet, and you’re least likely to have interruptions. Picking up your Bible before your phone is a statement of priority and a sharpener of focus for every other task. If the morning isn’t working for you, carve out a time when you can focus and guard the time—like a daily coffee break, before a meal, or just before bed.
Place. Pick somewhere you like to be. A favourite chair, your favourite coffee shop on the way into work, outdoors…. Aim for somewhere you can be still and undistracted, comfortable enough to rest with your Father but not so comfortable (i.e. horizontal!) that you fall asleep. Be intentional and choose a spot that nurtures easy listening for His voice.
Make it special. Little rituals that mark the time are important. Make a really nice coffee, use your favourite mug, breathe deeply and acknowledge the time as a gift.
Paper Bible. This devotional will require you to have a device on hand, but devices bring distraction and so using a paper Bible for the passages will limit this. As the year goes on, you’ll build familiarity with your own version of the Bible, adding notes to the margins and learning where your favourite verses are. By the end of the year, when you pack for trips, your Bible will go in first.
Notifications off. Alongside the above, this is undistracted time. Turn Do Not Disturb on.
Don’t play catchup. Most of you will miss a day here and there. If this happens, don’t try and catch up—I’ve seen that cause more drop outs from Bible plans than any other single thing. Trying to catch up on 2 (or 10…) readings on one day will be overwhelming and likely unfruitful. The purpose of a devotional isn’t 100% completion, but greater devotion. Leave yesterday alone, and get on with today’s reading. You can come back to yesterday’s passage in years to come.
Share. Share the journey with others, inviting others to do this alongside you. Starting halfway through the year is absolutely an option, as much as starting exercising halfway through the year will benefit your health. Having travelling companions helps you keep going, and share what God is doing among you.
Sabbath. These days have no readings. It’s not a catchup day: it’s a rest day. It’s a reminder that we don’t read to earn any special religious merit, or evoke the pleasure of the Father. You already have His utter pleasure. All life is given to us as a gift, and sabbath is the manner in which we inhabit that with gratuitous joy. Sabbath reminds us that it is God—not our discipline—that makes us holy.3
With God. When you come to read, you don’t do so alone: Jesus has promised His Spirit to be with you, who “will guide you into all truth.”4 Ask Him to speak to you; bring Him your questions. Trust what jumps out at you as likely His voice. Don’t worry in seasons when He seems quiet—these times are essential in growing your devotion. Ask Him to fill you “with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.”5

1st January is nearly here. Your first email will arrive soon after midnight.

May He use this practice of daily reading to refine and liberate your heart, and to set your gaze and your hungers into the heavenly things. May it be a journey further up and further into the heart of the Father. May it play a part in forming a generation ready to receive an increase of His power and His presence in the midst of our hurting world.

Soli Deo Gloria.

See you in three days.

Winn Collier: A Burning in my Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, p.68

Ephesians 2:6

Exodus 31:13

John 16:13

Colossians 1:9-10