Regimented Relationship

Lord, you are the awesome king. I love you so much. Thank you for your mercies, thank you for a wonderful wife who loves me, and thank you for the joy I receive in communing with you.

I was challenged yesterday by a teaching by John Lanferman. He was talking about personal devotional time and how so many of us treat it like a regiment instead of a relationship. The question we should ask ourselves is this; if we treated our relationship with our friends, family, or spouse like we did with God, would they be described as healthy relationships? I know if I related to my wife in a regimented way just fulfilling my "husbandly duties" we certainly wouldn't have a very happy or healthy marriage. We do this with God when we regiment our devotional lives.

In the past, I have tended to give myself a prescription of sorts. "I'll read one chapter in the old, one in the new, fifteen minutes of reading off the list of people who need prayer, and that should give me a good day and keep the devil away." This is not a relationship. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with spiritual disciplines, but we must guard our hearts from regimenting our relationship with our Father. For example, I have date night with my wife every week. I would see this as a discipline of ours. Most of the time we go out to dinner, come back home and spend the evening together watching a movie, playing cards or doing something we enjoy. But the conversation is always different. Sometimes it's more serious than others and sometimes we're just goofing off and having fun. The food and restaurants vary from week to week. Sometimes we go out to coffee afterwards and sometimes we don't. My point is that date night is a discipline but not a regiment. This is how we should meet with God.

Open yourself up to him. Be honest with your heart in your prayers (He knows what's in there anyways). View your bible reading as if God is speaking directly to you, take in his word and meditate on it. Take time remember the promises he has made to you, and reestablish them in your heart.

In conclusion, we must keep watch. A regimented relationship is no relationship at all. It becomes a set of legalistic items on a list that we check off everyday. Once again I ask this question, if you treated your relationship with your family, friends, or spouse the way you did with God, how healthy would that relationship be?