What is this and what’s the point???
This devotional was born out of a desire to journal my thoughts about what I am reading in scripture. Starting in Romans, I decided to walk one step at a time through the Bible and try to understand what it means and how I can apply it to my life. I quickly learned there wasn’t room in the margins of my bible to record everything, so I started typing! Eventually, I thought, “maybe someone else would benefit from this!” I started sharing my devotionals on Facebook and then a friend helped me launch my first website.
Since then, this has grown into 2 books (with many more to come) and part of my ministry with Uniting 2 Serve. I never considered myself a “writer” and in fact English and Composition were my most challenging subjects in school. Later, as a result of my own spiritual formation, I have discovered that my writing is a form of Lectio Divina, which is a processing of writings (in this case, the Bible itself) in order to digest it.
When we process God’s Word, it is like eating food! This is why Jesus quoted, “man does not live on bread alone, but the Word of God.” So then, we must understand how to process God’s Word as we do food! First we analyze it. We see it and smell it, much like an aromatic main course making its way to the table. We start to salivate. Maybe we remember the last time we ate something like it. Or maybe it is something we never tried before, but we are excited to learn how it tastes! Second we take a bite. Everyone has a different sized bite, but generally we take a bite that is appropriate for ourselves. We dig in and start to process it. Next we chew. We break down the food, tasting all the different flavors involved. We might even take a second look at the food with new eyes, wondering how that flavor could come out of what we see. We appreciate it and start to break it down to ingest. Then we swallow. When we are satisfied that it is broken down enough, we pass it on to the next stage for it to be digested and become a part of us! Digestion, however, does not happen immediately. It takes time. The food breaks down even more in our stomachs until the nutrients are able to be fully absorbed. Lastly we excrete the waste. This is where the analogy breaks down, as we should be careful not to throw away or waste any of God’s Word. But the tie in is that God’s Word replaces something within us which then must be done away with!
This devotional is mostly the chewing and swallowing portion of the process. I do not include the main Scripture passage in my writings as I find it most beneficial to read from our own bibles in our preferred translations. At times, I quote other passages or even compare translations. While I could show you the serving platter, I prefer you smell and see and take bites from your own plate.
I attempt to end my writings with a practical application. Sometimes it is an invitation, other times it is an exhortation, and occasionally I will pose questions to help you process even more.
Ultimately, my point in sharing my thoughts is to help you in your own discipleship journey! We are all in this together and I encourage feedback as we can learn from each other!