By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“Spending time with God is the key to our strength and success in all areas of life. Be sure that you never try to work God into your schedule, but always work your schedule around Him.” – Joyce Meyer

In our culture, it seems like many of us live a “checklist” life. Pick up the kids. Check. Shop for groceries. Check. Cook dinner. Check. Do the laundry. Check.

We get so used to checking things off of our list that we are tempted to perform all of our tasks with the same mindset. We hurry through items on our list so we can move onto the next thing.

Unfortunately, we are apt to do this with some pretty important things.  Go out on a date with my spouse. Check. Call my parents. Check. Reach out to a hurting friend. Check.

Every time we treat these important aspects of our lives as a box on our checklist they tend to lose their value. It becomes just another thing to scratch off our agenda. We rarely spend time in the moment. Instead, we are thinking about the next thing that we have to do.

The same can be said for our devotional life. We hear that we have to spend time with God. We understand its importance. So, we go out and buy a brand spankin’ new devotional from the Christian bookstore and place it on our bedside table. Every morning we wake up, turn on our lamp, and read it. But are we doing it with the right mindset?

With devotions at the beginning of our day, the temptation can be to hurry through them. We begin to think about all the things we have to get done that day and our brains barely comprehend what we’re reading. But, we get the gist of what the author is trying to say and we think, Hmm interesting. Then, we close the devotional and move on with our day, never giving God a second thought.

Why? Because we have checked Him of our list. We use those five minutes with our devotional as an excuse to say that we have spent time with God. Don’t get me wrong. There definitely isn’t anything wrong with reading a daily devotion. (I am writing one after all.) It is all about your attitude while doing it.

When we treat our devotional time as an item on our agenda, it loses all value. God wants to have a relationship with you that’s more than a five-minute skim of a devotion. He wants to speak to you through His Word. He wants you to come to His altar in prayer. He wants to whisper to you in the silence.

Don’t let your devotional time be an item on your checklist. Let it be just that:

Devotion.

Parents: Model a healthy devotional life for your kids. Show them how they can be intentional about spending time with God.