Out Like a Lamb: Favorite Devotionals

When I started working on this post, I had a simple goal in mind: explore the theology behind the Christian devotional books I have found most dear over the years, although it has been years since I used a devotional book as part of my quiet time. Now, after I have read some major sources to inform the points I planned to make, there have been some changes. No matter where you stand on the devotional/quiet time spectrum, I hope you'll find something in this post to enjoy and inform yourself!

What are Devotionals?

Most of my readers, myself included, likely think of devotionals as "Christian books to use during daily quiet time." While devotionals are present in non-Christian religions as well, in this post I want to focus on the Christian aspect. You may notice some overlap with aspects of self-help books. According to Deck's (2022) post, components of devotions generally include Scripture and usually include meditation (in liturgical or other form) as well. Devotions exclude theological instruction, commentary, or textbooks.

What is my Devotional Routine?

I've mentioned previously that I was raised in a conservative, Lutheran, charismatic, pietist tradition and am now in the Anglican Church of North America. As a child, I had a more or less constant devotional routine of morning reading from the Bible and/or a book, writing a brief prayer in a private notebook, and sometimes working on memory passage(s). I modified each of these components as I grew older, and went in and out of highly pietistic seasons.

Devotionals I remember reading over the years ranged from early childhood to young adulthood (just having graduated from graduate school the first time around):

• Big Thoughts for Little People, which I think my parents still own. This is actually an ABC book written from a Christian perspective.
• Little Visits with God, a much more substantial book that was one in a series. This was fairly enjoyable as a solo endeavor. Looking back, I'm not surprised . . . it was written in 1958!
• A Gentle and Quiet Spirit, which I loaned to a friend in 2015 and haven't gotten back, and probably never will. My favorite aspects of this book were its small size and quality of meditations on the chosen verses. I do not remember the author, and none of the titles on Amazon look right, hence the lack of a link to this book.
• Portals of Prayer, a quarterly publication through Concordia Publishing House. The church I used to go to distributes this to attendees; it has Lutheran-style explanations of a longer passage of assigned Scripture reading, along with a selected phrase that is actually printed at the top of each day's page.
• Several books by Joni Eareckson Tada, all of which I think I have given away. These were helpful due to hardcover status allowing the readings to be slightly longer, but only chose a phrase or a verse as the subject of reflection.

Currently, my devotional routine looks significantly different, mostly because I have not used a daily devotional of any kind in more than 5 years. Constants through the years are (1) daily reading of several Bible chapters (I have read straight through or chronologically through the Bible annually since 7th grade), (2) gratitude journaling plus journaling about any other emotions and happenings of the previous day, and (3) writing (usually) an extemporaneous prayer or collect specific to the day's needs.

For reasons we'll explore as we move through this post, other components that are significantly different from what I've grown up with are (4) inclusion at any time of day of reading a book that actually teaches aspects of theology in a systematic way (many of which I have blogged about this year and last year) and (5) evening prayer using the Daily Office from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. Sometimes Husband and I will substitute a theological audiobook for #5 if we're especially tired, or else listen to the Daily Office podcast.

How did Devotionals Come About?

(Most information in this section comes from a recent Christianity Today article.) In the United States, Christian devotionals originated around 1870, when evangelical tradition merged Puritan private prayer and Puritan private study. Prior to that, long-form Scripture engagement was relatively common--a reference in Justin Martyr, a second-century church father, indicate that readings in communal worship settings were lengthy, followed by congregant engagement with difficult issues in the text. This long-form engagement allowed people several benefits:

1. Familiarity with the entire scope of the Scripture canon
2. Confidence to engage with the teachings of the entirety of the Bible, not limited to single short texts or verses
3. Fluency and resultant wisdom to discern how Scripture applies to issues not precisely mentioned in the text

After the 1870s, the individual "devotional" practice was added to this long-form engagement in most traditions, allowing individuals to focus on private Bible reading, quiet listening, extemporaneous prayer, and waiting on God's specific daily guidance. In those early decades of private devotions, the focus of this individual quiet time was on intercessory prayer.

As the decades passed, the focus shifted toward passively listening for God's specific guidance for the day. People practiced less intercessory prayer and overall did not engage with the text in any sort of rigorous way. In 1909, the Scofield Reference Bible was published, identified by the Christianity Today article as a key event in the development of what quiet time looks like today. This Bible came from a dispensationalist perspective (a heterodox set of doctrines) and thus had a major effect of inflating readers' self-confidence to interpret the "plain meaning" of the text (in English translation) as "the" correct interpretation.

From there, what quiet time typically looks like today has several features:

• Lack of actual Scripture reading. A fifth of churchgoers never read the Bible, and during quiet time about two-fifths of practitioners read Scripture.
• Lack of contextual awareness of a verse. (In answer, Never Read Just a Bible Verse.) Space in this post will not permit me to speak at any length about the problems this causes . . .
• Lack of knowledge of what the Bible actually contains and teaches, because many people engaging in daily quiet time are not getting long-form Scripture engagement or systematic instruction/study elsewhere.
• Focus on meditating using the Bible rather than seeing it as "the authoritative teaching of God and His people."

I've mentioned several times the need emphasized by the CT article for long-form engagement to avoid Bible roulette. That may be a topic for another post. However, here I wanted to write some more about what it means to meditate, from a Christian, non-transcendentalist perspective. I'm grateful to theologian and pastor John Kleinig for sharing a 9-page paper on this topic. Please enjoy my notes:

• How to meditate like Jesus did, instead of not meditating at all, or meditating in the wrong way:
• Isaiah 50:4-11 describes a "master meditator" who always heard God's voice. Foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus' spiritual life is sketched thinly - prayed to recharge, at night; kept in verbal contact with the Father (as described in John)
• Luke: parable of the sower - meditation = we receive God's word and bear fruit: by patiently rereading, memorizing, and kept on our minds, we have changed behavior. Parable of the lamp - we need to keep thinking about the Word for illumination of our minds
• By meditating (repeating mindfully the Word), we are spiritually nourished and enlightened. "Enlightenment does not come from looking at Jesus and his miracles but from listening to his preaching and teaching" (p. 4, emphasis original).
• Mary, Jesus' mother - faith-filled listening to and repeating of the word spoken to her
• John - how do we meditate? Remain/abide in His word; base our existence on it; treat Jesus as our master; let our prayers be governed by His person and word; do so out of love for Him until His return, then we will recognize the Spirit within us and have a foretaste of the renewed Jerusalem

What are some Classic Devotionals?

(Most of the information in this section, outside of my experience, comes from a Soul Shepherding article.) Due to Amazon's preference for displaying more recently published works over older works in a given category, I would recommend going to one of the end pages of a search if that's where you are looking for a classic Christian devotional book. If you prefer a classic/"old" book, you're in good company with C. S. Lewis and others, including Jesus (who spoke with Moses and Elijah, the representatives of the ancient Law and the Prophets, as He was transfigured) and the reformers, who read extensively from the church fathers (who lived in the first 4 centuries of Christianity) and were influenced by their thought.

Given that so many important and insightful people valued older books in their devotional routines and spiritual growth, I picked out my favorite books from the website's list (here's a map showing the "family tree" of the various Christian traditions, and a 29-page document describing major denominations in more depth):

• Athanasius' On the Incarnation. Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, lived c. 293-373 A. D. and has been influential in the thought of multiple Christian traditions.
• Augustine's Confessions. Augustine of Hippo (now in Algeria) lived 354-430 A. D. and has influenced multiple traditions, including Calvinism (branch of Reformed theology).
• St. Benedict's The Rule. St. Benedict of Italy lived c. 480-547 A. D. and influenced monasticism, specifically within the Roman Catholic tradition.
• Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ. Thomas lived in Germany near the Netherlands border in 1379-1471, mostly in a Roman Catholic monastery.
• Luther's A Simple Way to Pray. Luther lived in Germany 1483-1546 and, while originally Roman Catholic, semi-unintentionally founded the Lutheran branch of the Reformation.
• Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan lived in England 1628-1688 and figures prominently in the Puritan tradition (post-Reformation).
• Brother Lawrence's Practicing the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence lived c. 1611-1691 in Paris and was a Carmelite monk in the Roman Catholic tradition.
• F. B. Meyer's The Secret of Guidance. Meyer lived 1847-1929 in London while traveling frequently to the U.S., writing and preaching in the Baptist/revivalist tradition.
• Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers lived in Scotland and Egypt 1874-1917 and has influence well beyond his Baptist tradition.
• A. W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. Tozer lived 1897-1963 in Pennsylvania, preaching without seminary training in Alliance churches, within the Protestant tradition.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. Bonhoeffer lived 1906-1945 in Poland/Germany within the Protestant tradition, writing more ecumenically.

I hope you find something old and something new to you to enjoy in your devotional routine!