Chapter Four: Seeking a Deeper Devotion
CHAPTER FOUR
Seeking a Deeper Devotion
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
PSALM 119:10
Scripture defines unbelievers as totally godless. Paul tells the Romans that they have no fear of God, are hostile to Him, are unwilling to submit to His law, and are unable to please Him. This is just as true of the morally upright unbeliever as it is of the most corrupt profligate. The former worships a god of his own mind, not the God of the Bible. When confronted with the claims of the Sovereign God of the universe, he often reacts with greater hostility than an unbeliever living in open sin.
At the time of our salvation, God through His Holy Spirit deals with this godless spirit within us. He gives us a new heart and moves us to obey Him, He gives us a singleness of heart and inspires us to fear Him, and He pours out His love into our hearts so that we begin to comprehend His love for us. All of this is bound up in the blessings of the new birth, so we may safely say that all Christians possess, at least in embryonic form, a basic devotion to God. It is impossible to be a Christian and not have it. The work of the Holy Spirit at regeneration assures this. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
But though all of us as Christians possess a basic God-centeredness as an integral part of our spiritual lives, we must grow in this devotion to God. We are to train ourselves to be godly; we are to make every effort to add godliness to our faith. To grow in godliness is to grow both in our devotion to God and in our likeness to His character.
In chapter 2 we illustrated devotion to God by a triangle of which the three points represent the fear of God, the love of God, and the desire for God. To grow in our devotion to God is to grow in each of these three areas. And as the triangle is equal on all three sides, so we should seek to grow equally in all of these areas; otherwise our devotion becomes unbalanced.
To seek to grow in the fear of God, for example, without also growing in our comprehension of His love can cause us to begin to view God as far-off and austere. Or to seek to grow in our awareness of the love of God without also growing in our reverence and awe of Him can cause us to view God as a permissive and indulgent heavenly Father who does not deal with our sin. This latter unbalanced view is prevalent in our society today. That is why many Christians are calling for a renewed emphasis on the biblical teaching of the fear of God.
A crucial characteristic of our growth in godly devotion, then, must be a balanced approach to all three of the essential elements of devotion: fear, love, and desire. Another crucial characteristic must be a vital dependence upon the Holy Spirit to bring about this growth. The principle of Christian ministry that Paul states in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow,” is just as true as a principle of growth in godliness. We must plant and water through whatever means of grace God has given us, but only God can make godly devotion increase within our hearts.
We express this vital dependence on God by praying that He will cause us to grow in our devotion to Him. David prayed, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). Paul prayed that the Ephesian Christians might be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (see 3:16-19). And David prayed that he might dwell in the house of the Lord to behold His beauty and seek Him in His temple (see Psalm 27:4). Each of these prayers is a recognition that growth in devotion to God is of Him.
If we are committed to the practice of godliness, our prayer life will reflect it. We will be regularly asking God to increase our fear of Him, to deepen our understanding of His love for us, and to heighten our desire for His fellowship. We would do well, for example, to put the three verses mentioned above, or similar passages, on our list of prayer requests and pray over them regularly.
MEDITATING ON GOD
We have already discussed the overall importance of the Word of God in developing godliness. The Word also helps us specifically in the three areas of devotion: the fear of God, the love of God, and the desire for God.
Although all of the Bible should instruct us in the fear of God, I have found there are certain passages especially helpful to me in drawing my attention to the majesty and holiness of God —the attributes particularly suited to stimulate our hearts in the fear of God. Here are some passages I refer to frequently:
These Scripture selections are intended only as suggestions. You may find others that are more meaningful to you. Use them. The important point is that God uses His Word to create in our hearts the sense of reverence and awe of Him that causes us to fear Him. It is vain to pray for an increase of the fear of God in our hearts without meditating on passages of Scripture that are particularly suited to stimulate that fear.
There are also specific passages that will help us grow in our awareness of God’s love. I find these especially helpful: Psalm 103, Isaiah 53, Romans 5:6-11, Ephesians 2:1-10, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and 1 John 4:9-11.
In commending certain passages of Scripture to you, I cannot emphasize too strongly, however, that it is not just the bare reading, or even memorizing, of these passages that accomplishes the desired result of growth in godliness. We must meditate on them, but even that is not sufficient. The Holy Spirit must make His Word come alive to our hearts to produce the growth, so we must meditate in prayerful dependence upon Him to do His work. Neither meditation nor prayer by themselves is sufficient for growth in devotion. We must practice both.
WORSHIPPING GOD
Still another essential part of our practice of devotion to God is worship. By worship I mean the specific act of ascribing to God the glory, majesty, honor, and worthiness that are His. Revelation 4:8-11 and 5:9-14 give us clear illustrations of the worship that goes on in heaven and should be emulated by us here on earth. I almost always begin my daily quiet time with a period of worship. Before beginning my Bible reading for the day, I take a few minutes to reflect upon one of the attributes of God or meditate upon one of the passages about Him mentioned on page 50 and then ascribe to Him the glory and honor due to Him because of that particular attribute.
I find it helpful to assume a kneeling position for this time of worship as a physical acknowledgment of my reverence, awe, and adoration of God. Worship is a matter of the heart, not of one’s physical position; nevertheless, the Scriptures do frequently portray bowing the knee as a sign of homage and adoration. David said, “In reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple” (Psalm 5:7). The writer of Psalm 95 says, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (verse 6). And we know that one day every knee shall bow before Jesus as a sign of homage to His Lordship (see Philippians 2:10).
Obviously, it is not always possible to bow before God in our times of worship. God understands this and surely allows for it. But when we can do so, I strongly recommend bowing before God, not only as a sign of reverence to Him but also for what it does in helping us prepare our minds to worship God in a manner acceptable to Him.
In emphasizing the value of worship, I have dealt solely with the practice of private worship —that which we should do in our personal quiet time. I do not mean to ignore public, corporate worship; I simply do not feel qualified to speak on that subject. I would plead with ministers of congregations to give us more instruction in the nature and practice of corporate worship. I sense that many Christians go through the motions of a worship service without actually worshipping God.
All that has been said thus far about the importance of prayer, of meditating on the Word of God, and of having a specific time of worship implies the value of a quiet time. The expression “quiet time” is used to describe a regular period each day set aside to meet with God through His Word and through prayer. One of the great privileges of a believer is to have fellowship with almighty God. We do this by listening to Him speak to us from His Word and by speaking to Him through prayer.
There are various spiritual exercises we may want to accomplish during our quiet time, such as reading through the Bible in a year and praying over certain requests. But the primary objective of our quiet time should be fellowship with God —developing a personal relationship with Him and growing in our devotion to Him.
After I have begun my quiet time with a period of worship, I next turn to the Bible. As I read a passage of Scripture (usually one or more chapters), I talk to God about what I am reading. I like to think of the quiet time as a conversation: God speaking to me through the Bible and I responding to what He says. This approach helps to make the quiet time what it is intended to be: a time of fellowship with God.
Having worshipped God and fellowshipped with Him, I then take time to go over various prayer requests I want to bring before Him that day. Following this order prepares me to pray more effectively. I have thought about who God is; therefore, I do not “rush into His presence” casually and demandingly. At the same time I am reminded of His power and love, and my faith regarding His ability and delight to answer my requests is strengthened. In this way, even my time of asking actually becomes a time of fellowship with Him.
In suggesting certain Scriptures for meditation, or certain modes of worship, or a particular practice for a quiet time, I do not want to give the impression that growing in devotion to God is merely following a suggested routine. Neither do I want to suggest that what is helpful to me ought to be followed by others, or will even be helpful to others. All I want to do is demonstrate that growth in devotion to God, although a result of His ministry in us, comes as a result of very concrete practice on our part. We are to train ourselves to be godly; and as we learned in chapter 3, training involves practice —the day-after-day exercise that enables us to become proficient.
THE ULTIMATE TEST
Thus far we have looked at specific activities that help us grow in our devotion to God: prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, worship, and the quiet time. There is still another area that is not an activity but an attitude of life: obedience to the will of God. This is the ultimate test of our fear of God and the only true response to His love for us. God specifically states that we fear Him by keeping all His decrees and commands (see Deuteronomy 6:1-2), and Proverbs 8:13 tells us that “to fear the LORD is to hate evil.” I can know if I truly fear God by determining if I have a genuine hatred of evil and an earnest desire to obey His commands.
In the days of Nehemiah, the Jewish nobles and officials were disobeying God’s law by exacting usury from their countrymen. When Nehemiah confronted them he said, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?” (Nehemiah 5:9). He could just as well have said, “Shouldn’t you obey God to avoid the reproach of our enemies?” Nehemiah equated walking in the fear of God with obedience to God. If we do not fear God, we will not think it worthwhile to obey His commands; but if we truly fear Him —if we hold Him in reverence and awe —we will obey Him. The measure of our obedience is an exact measure of our reverence for Him.
Similarly, as we have already seen in chapter 2, Paul affirmed that his awareness of Christ’s love for him compelled him to live, not for himself but for Him who died for us. As God begins to answer our prayer for a deeper realization of His love, one means He often uses is to enable us to see more and more of our own sinfulness. Paul was nearing the end of his life when he wrote these words: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners —of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). We realize that our sins as Christians, though perhaps not as outwardly gross as before, are more heinous in the sight of God because they are sins against knowledge and against grace. We know better and we know His love, and yet we sin willfully. And then we go back to the cross and realize that Jesus bore even those willful sins in His body on the tree, and the realization of that infinite love compels us to deal with those very sins and put them to death. Both the fear of God and the love of God motivate us to obedience, and that obedience proves they are authentic in our lives.
A DEEPER LONGING
As we concentrate on growing in our reverence and awe for God and in our understanding of His love for us, we will find that our desire for Him will grow. As we gaze upon His beauty, we will desire to seek Him even more. And as we become progressively more aware of His redeeming love, we will want to know Him in a progressively deeper way. But we can also pray that God will deepen our desire for Him. I recall reading Philippians 3:10 a number of years ago and realizing a little bit of the depth of Paul’s desire to know Christ more intimately. As I read I prayed, “O God, I cannot identify with Paul’s longing, but I would like to.” Over the years God has begun to answer that prayer. By His grace I know experientially to some degree Isaiah’s words, “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you” (Isaiah 26:9). I am grateful for what God has done, but I pray I will continue to grow in this desire for Him.
One of the wonderful things about God is that He is infinite in all of His glorious attributes, so never in our desire for Him will we exhaust the revelation of His person to us. The more we come to know Him, the more we will desire Him. And the more we desire Him, the more we will want to fellowship with Him and experience His presence. And the more we desire Him and His fellowship, the more we will desire to be like Him.
Paul’s heartfelt cry in Philippians 3:10 vividly expresses this longing. He desires both to know Christ and to be like Him. He wants to experience both His fellowship —even the fellowship of suffering —as well as the transforming power of His resurrection life. He wants both Christ-centeredness and Christlikeness.
This is godliness: God-centeredness, or devotion to God; and Godlikeness, or Christian character. The practice of godliness is both the practice of devotion to God and the practice of a lifestyle that is pleasing to God and reflects His character to other people.
In the remainder of our studies in this book, we will consider the Godlike character that we should display. But we can build Godlike character only upon the foundation of a wholehearted devotion to God. God must be the very focal point of our lives if we wish to have godly character and conduct.
This point cannot be overemphasized. Too many of us focus on the outward structure of character and conduct without taking the time to build the inward foundation of devotion to God. This often results in a cold morality or legalism, or, even worse, self-righteousness and spiritual pride. Of course, the foundation of devotion to God and the structure of a life pleasing to God must be developed simultaneously. We cannot separate these two aspects of godliness.
Because of the importance of properly laying the foundation of inward devotion, I encourage you to review the essential elements of devotion (see chapter 2). Then review this chapter and make specific plans for exercising yourself in the area of devotion to God. No one has ever developed a mental or physical skill without a commitment to practice. And no one will ever develop a devotion to God without a commitment to exercise himself in the essential elements of devotion.
The idea of practice may tend to make us think of drudgery, such as dreary drills on piano scales when we wished to be out playing with our friends. But the practice of developing our relationship with God should not be equated with something like childhood music lessons. We are seeking to grow in our devotion to the most wonderful Person in all of the universe, the infinitely glorious and loving God. Nothing can compare with the privilege of knowing Him in whose presence is fullness of joy and in whose hand there are pleasures forever (see Psalm 16:11, NASB).