If you're like me, you've sometimes finished reading your Bible and having a prayer time only to wonder, "What has this done for me?" Sometimes it can seem like our "devotions" don't have any practical value. Shouldn't they have some practical value? I was reading a book on prayer and contemplation of Scripture this morning, and came across a passage that I found very helpful in this regard:
"What (the Christian) gains through contemplation he will seldom be able to translate directly into everyday benefits. Nor should he be disturbed by this. All that is necessary is that love, which is the substance of the Church, the sacraments and all God's words and laws, should be continually flowing from his prayer straight into action, as a single, indivisible love for God, for mankind and for God's entire creation." (Prayer, Hans Urs von Balthasar, p. 122-123)
To put it in other terms we might be able to identify with, we know Jesus spent daily and lengthy time in prayer and knew the Scriptures very well. Do you think Jesus' daily times with His Father were designed to give him specific directions for what to do after breakfast and that evening, or in response to a certain crisis? Or is it more likely that he was cultivating a relationship with the Father whereby he was always aware of what God wanted him to do and knew how to submit to the Father?
Something to think about on those days when you wonder what exactly the purpose of time alone with God is.
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1 comment:
thank-you for making us think, karl and myself enjoy our sunday mornings in the church, with our church family, and you pastor scott and dee as our leaders.it was so good to see holly there this morning, a true christian brother. sheila
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