With this post, I am about to do something seemingly sacrilegious in modern Christianity: I am going to advocate for some people spending less time in Scripture and private prayer, and if not less time, at least approach Scripture and solitude with more reasonable expectations. To be fair, Scripture advocates both Scripture reading and private prayer. Jesus commanded us to pray in private, as He did often. And Luke commended the Bereans for examining Scripture every day to see if Paul's preaching was true. Scripture reading and private prayer are important ingredients in the Christian life, but it is my concern that we can make these ingredients central to the recipe at the exclusion of others. I know I have, which is largely what motivates me to write this post.
You see, I believe the primary problem is the expectations we sometimes (not always) place on private Christian disciplines. I recently listened to a sermon that used John 15:1-8 as its primary passage. After reading this passage, the preacher explained that trees do not strain to bear fruit, they just do it. This is true. But he also went on to explain how he believes Christians will just bear Spiritual fruit if they will be in Scripture more, in prayer more, and Christian community more. I think there is some truth to this as well. But I believe it can also be misleading.
The trouble is the imbalance of passivity and activity that this type of thinking can produce, I am speaking from experience. In my experience, if I devote a lot of my active effort to Scripture reading and prayer with the expectation that this activity will lead to a fairly passive life of Christian service (just guided along by the Spirit), I fail. This type of thinking leads me into failing to follow some of God's commands (sin) and this type of thinking leads me into oversimplifying issues (not understanding the world for what it is).
When I begin to believe that activity in Scripture and prayer lead to passivity in life I fall to temptation more. When I begin to believe that activity in Scripture and prayer lead to passivity in life I begin to attribute most (if not all) my troubles to a lack of time in Scripture and prayer. This is too simple-minded.
An example may help: suppose you struggle with sexual temptation. Ingredients in addressing this temptation should certainly include meeting with God in His Word and praying for the concerns of your heart. However, if you approach Scripture and private prayer as activities that will completely and entirely change your heart--leaving you immune to temptation--you will either be disappointed, or worse, start to justify your temptation because it still exists after you have tried to pray it away.
Even if one places realistic expectations on Scripture and solitude, I also believe one can engage in them too much. This feels very strange to write, but I want to communicate it because I never hear anyone else do it. I believe this is a problem. I understand pastors and teachers preaching more and more Scripture reading and private prayer, because the majority of their listeners are going to lack these disciplines. However, there is at least a percentage of the audience that will take the preacher at his word and dive as deep as possible into the private spiritual disciplines. These people can begin feeling guilty if they do not dedicate a large fraction of their time to being alone with Scripture and God. Granted, the ceiling may be rather high here, and it probably varies among people, but I believe there is definitely a ceiling for healthy amounts of Scripture and private prayer. To be extreme, 16 hours of Scripture and private prayer are unattainable considering the other principles of Scripture. For instance, when do you provide for your family if you are in private spiritual disciplines the entire day? Now, I know this example is drastic, but I also know it is freeing for people to realize there is an unhealthy upper extreme on disciplines that are usually presented as if it is impossible to get enough of them. I know this is freeing, because I have experienced it.
Now, I want to be clear, the majority of people are not in threat of overdoing their Scripture reading and solitary prayer. However, I know there are many other people like me that have viewed Scripture and solitary prayer as immune to overdose. But this simply doesn't make sense. Our experience tells us that we can have too much of anything in this world. Too much water can be deadly and too much sleep can be just as unhealthy as too little. To be fair, Paul does tell the Thessalonians to "pray continually", but this must include praying while you are doing other things. Because Paul also told the Thessalonians to stop being bums and get out in the world and work. When I am advocating some people spending less time praying, I mean praying in solitude, because I believe figuring out what "praying continually" looks like is a Christian's lifelong duty.
Making Biblically informed decisions is going to require activity, it is not always going to be easy. Now, reading Scripture and praying are crucial ingredients to positioning ourselves to make God pleasing decisions, but no matter how much we pray and read Scripture, our fleshly nature is not going away--not until Jesus comes back. Once again, this doesn't mean we should stop reading the Bible or praying privately, but we cannot believe these two disciplines are going to automatically generate fruit. Paul, late in his ministry, writes about how his fleshly nature still plagues him incessantly. Peter denied Jesus 3 times after spending 3 years walking alongside Him. If Peter was still tempted after walking alongside the incarnate Jesus, how much more are we still going to face temptations after reading Scripture? We cannot believe the myth that we will somehow discern all of God's will and never face temptation if we just dig deeper into His Word and spend more time with Him. Do not give up Scripture reading and prayer, but do not put unrealistic expectations on them either. No matter how much you engage in the spiritual disciplines; self-control, patience, and kindness are often going to be difficult.
John 15:9-17, the verses immediately following those used in the sermon I referenced, describe what it means to remain in Christ's love. According to this passage, remaining in Christ's love does not solely mean Scripture reading and prayer but, rather, following His commands, and His greatest command is this: "Love each other as I (Jesus) have loved you". Now, reading Scripture and private prayer should help us love people better but loving people is always going to be complicated and difficult no matter how much we read Scripture or pray. We will never love well if we misunderstand how difficult it is going to be. Scripture reading and prayer will help us know God's heart and transform ours, but going into the world and living are always going to be difficult, and if we are always in Scripture or solitude, we will never make it into the world.
You see, I believe the primary problem is the expectations we sometimes (not always) place on private Christian disciplines. I recently listened to a sermon that used John 15:1-8 as its primary passage. After reading this passage, the preacher explained that trees do not strain to bear fruit, they just do it. This is true. But he also went on to explain how he believes Christians will just bear Spiritual fruit if they will be in Scripture more, in prayer more, and Christian community more. I think there is some truth to this as well. But I believe it can also be misleading.
The trouble is the imbalance of passivity and activity that this type of thinking can produce, I am speaking from experience. In my experience, if I devote a lot of my active effort to Scripture reading and prayer with the expectation that this activity will lead to a fairly passive life of Christian service (just guided along by the Spirit), I fail. This type of thinking leads me into failing to follow some of God's commands (sin) and this type of thinking leads me into oversimplifying issues (not understanding the world for what it is).
When I begin to believe that activity in Scripture and prayer lead to passivity in life I fall to temptation more. When I begin to believe that activity in Scripture and prayer lead to passivity in life I begin to attribute most (if not all) my troubles to a lack of time in Scripture and prayer. This is too simple-minded.
An example may help: suppose you struggle with sexual temptation. Ingredients in addressing this temptation should certainly include meeting with God in His Word and praying for the concerns of your heart. However, if you approach Scripture and private prayer as activities that will completely and entirely change your heart--leaving you immune to temptation--you will either be disappointed, or worse, start to justify your temptation because it still exists after you have tried to pray it away.
Even if one places realistic expectations on Scripture and solitude, I also believe one can engage in them too much. This feels very strange to write, but I want to communicate it because I never hear anyone else do it. I believe this is a problem. I understand pastors and teachers preaching more and more Scripture reading and private prayer, because the majority of their listeners are going to lack these disciplines. However, there is at least a percentage of the audience that will take the preacher at his word and dive as deep as possible into the private spiritual disciplines. These people can begin feeling guilty if they do not dedicate a large fraction of their time to being alone with Scripture and God. Granted, the ceiling may be rather high here, and it probably varies among people, but I believe there is definitely a ceiling for healthy amounts of Scripture and private prayer. To be extreme, 16 hours of Scripture and private prayer are unattainable considering the other principles of Scripture. For instance, when do you provide for your family if you are in private spiritual disciplines the entire day? Now, I know this example is drastic, but I also know it is freeing for people to realize there is an unhealthy upper extreme on disciplines that are usually presented as if it is impossible to get enough of them. I know this is freeing, because I have experienced it.
Now, I want to be clear, the majority of people are not in threat of overdoing their Scripture reading and solitary prayer. However, I know there are many other people like me that have viewed Scripture and solitary prayer as immune to overdose. But this simply doesn't make sense. Our experience tells us that we can have too much of anything in this world. Too much water can be deadly and too much sleep can be just as unhealthy as too little. To be fair, Paul does tell the Thessalonians to "pray continually", but this must include praying while you are doing other things. Because Paul also told the Thessalonians to stop being bums and get out in the world and work. When I am advocating some people spending less time praying, I mean praying in solitude, because I believe figuring out what "praying continually" looks like is a Christian's lifelong duty.
Making Biblically informed decisions is going to require activity, it is not always going to be easy. Now, reading Scripture and praying are crucial ingredients to positioning ourselves to make God pleasing decisions, but no matter how much we pray and read Scripture, our fleshly nature is not going away--not until Jesus comes back. Once again, this doesn't mean we should stop reading the Bible or praying privately, but we cannot believe these two disciplines are going to automatically generate fruit. Paul, late in his ministry, writes about how his fleshly nature still plagues him incessantly. Peter denied Jesus 3 times after spending 3 years walking alongside Him. If Peter was still tempted after walking alongside the incarnate Jesus, how much more are we still going to face temptations after reading Scripture? We cannot believe the myth that we will somehow discern all of God's will and never face temptation if we just dig deeper into His Word and spend more time with Him. Do not give up Scripture reading and prayer, but do not put unrealistic expectations on them either. No matter how much you engage in the spiritual disciplines; self-control, patience, and kindness are often going to be difficult.
John 15:9-17, the verses immediately following those used in the sermon I referenced, describe what it means to remain in Christ's love. According to this passage, remaining in Christ's love does not solely mean Scripture reading and prayer but, rather, following His commands, and His greatest command is this: "Love each other as I (Jesus) have loved you". Now, reading Scripture and private prayer should help us love people better but loving people is always going to be complicated and difficult no matter how much we read Scripture or pray. We will never love well if we misunderstand how difficult it is going to be. Scripture reading and prayer will help us know God's heart and transform ours, but going into the world and living are always going to be difficult, and if we are always in Scripture or solitude, we will never make it into the world.
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