Today marks the first day of Lent and the commemoration of Ash Wednesday, a time of repentance and confession for all believers (if you are in the US – I got this post late where I live…). May the Lord be with all Christians worldwide in this time as we purify our hearts in anticipation for Easter Weekend.

The 40-day Lenten period reflects the story of Jesus being led out into the wilderness for 40 days without food and underwent tested by the devil in preparation for His ministry on earth. In modern times, it is a common practice for many Christians to pick up a daily devotion plan in this same period to reflect upon the ministry of Jesus, His significance and His sacrifice on the cross for all of mankind.

I used to go through devotionals more often (especially for my Quiet Time). But this year, I don’t think I’ll be using a devotional. Here’s why.

The origins of daily devotions

Protestants would balk at the thought of not spending time with God daily through quiet time (QT). Mainstream Christian media promotes devotional reading as an essential part of a devout Christian’s life. After all, isn’t the whole point of the faith to cultivate a relationship with Jesus and to get Him involved in all aspects of our lives? How can you say you truly love Him if you don’t want to spend time with Him daily?

I think somewhere along the way, we Christians have been brainwashed into thinking doing QT is a good proxy for the strength of one’s faith.

To begin with, for most Christians throughout history, that was not how they practiced their faith. Reading Scripture was done communally when believers gathered to hear, discuss and wrestle with God’s word. This made sense, considering that literacy was much lower back then and Scripture was not immediately accessible to the general public. Once those obstacles were overcome, bible reading became a commonplace activity and believers could do it from the comforts of their homes. Mix in a dose of Ps 1:1-2 and you get the modern-day practice of daily devotions.

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, But their delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night. (Psalms 1:1-2 NRSVUE)

Fast forward to the modern era, we are flooded with numerous ways to access the bible and all it has to offer through apps, devotions, commentaries, audiobooks and the list goes on. I suspect a modern-day Christian’s approach to QT goes something like this:

1. Open a daily devotion plan.
2. Pray for a personal revelation.
3. Read a tiny portion of Scripture (as little as ONE verse).
4. Milk that tiny portion of Scripture dry, trying to figure out how God is speaking to you today.
5. Meditate on God’s word – whatever that means.

I never thought of how weird that practice sounds until I started going through more devotions and sermons that centers around ONE specific verse. Literally milking every word, trying to force out a significance out of every letter and trying to ask the same questions again and again “how do you feel God is speaking to you through this verse today?”; “do you see your life in the same way?” etc.

Is it just me, or doesn’t that feel a bit too…self-centered?

Microdosing Scripture leads to poor biblical literacy

For a start, I don’t think anyone should read just ONE verse (or just a couple), expecting to parse an entire block of meaning out of it. Considering how much emphasis we give to “reading the bible in context”, the modern practice of devotional reading is absolutely terrible at it.

Since we are in the season of Lent, let me give an example. Years ago, I did a devotional plan on the YouVersion Bible App on the parables of Jesus. Every day, there would be a single section of a parable (yes, the plan does chop up a single parable into multiple parts, even though a parable is already barely seven verses long). The devotions, on the other hand, are usually far longer than the actual parable itself, going about topics related to the verse itself (e.g. slavery in the bible in the story of the unforgiving slave). Repeat that for an entire month…

Now that I have read more widely and am more informed on the historicity and themes in the bible and the rich diversity of opinions from the biblical authors, looking back on such devotional readings made me cringe a little. These parables now made so much more sense when I realized each gospel writer had their own theological agenda in their writing, which explains why some parables exist in one gospel but not another, or why the same story can differ across gospels. Matthew’s goal is to portray Jesus as the cumulation of Jewish messianic prophecy and so his gospel is filled with references to the Old Testament (and how the Pharisees get them all wrong). Luke’s gospel is more concerned with gentile outreach, so all those verses on fulfilling prophecy and bashing on the Pharisees gets cut (e.g. Matthew 7:15-20 vs Luke 6:43-45, see the differences underlined). Both authors don’t even share the same view on the role of Jesus’s death as an atonement or forgiveness for sins.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20 NRSVUE)

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45 NRSVUE)

You can’t get these views if you are only reading a verse a day. You can’t get them if you intend to harmonize everything you read. And certainly not if you are reading the bible for the purposes of personal revelation only.

Is devotional reading ever useful?

Maybe, in the right circumstances and the right intention. Today, I am now fairly antagonistic against daily devotional reading because to me, it seems more akin to the modern practice of manifestation. If you believe hard enough, God will have something to say to you!

Nevertheless, I will admit it may be useful, especially in a season like Lent where Christians are called to be more observant of our behaviors and beliefs. I can see a time when devotions can be used to spur a time of reflection and to motivate believers into changing their lifestyles to be more aligned with what God wants*. Nevertheless, I think reading the bible plainly, on its own, no frills and no microdosing (read longer and deeper in one go!) can achieve the same objective so that will be what I do moving forward. To each his/her own.

But don’t milk single verses. Scripture isn’t a cow.

*Dr. Dru Johnson, whose blog is the inspiration for the thoughts in this post, has proposed a series of practices that can complement daily devotions to make bible reading more enriching and educational. He is way more experienced in this than me, so I would suggest giving his blog a read as well.