about a word

I have never been crazy about the abbreviation for the word devotion used by high schoolers and college students. They call it "devos," and I think there is something telling about that shortening of the word. I am not sure how you can abbreviate the word and maintain the integrity of the word.

The word devotion has the sense of having "feelings of ardent love" or "commitment to some purpose." Furthermore there is an element of zealous in that commitment by the one who is devoted, a passion for the object of the devotion. To be devoted to something means to be dedicated exclusively to a purpose or use or person, for instance a "life devoted to poetry." It carries with it a passionate affection for its object.

But we do it anyway. We call it devos, and we give God five or fifteen minutes. Or maybe we don't even give God the time; we depersonalize Him and give his words a few minutes to be read. We certainly cannot say we have given them much devotion when we quickly read a passage or devotional guide and then run through our prayer list.

E.M.Bounds says "the root of devotion is to devote to a sacred use...Prayer promotes the spirit of devotion while devotion is favorable to the best praying....God dwells where the spirit of devotion resides...True worship finds congeniality in the atmosphere made by the spirit of devotion."

In simple language, he is reminding us that it costs us time to meet God, to really enter into fellowship and intimacy with God. You won't have much of a relationship with a friend or demonstrate much devotion to that friend if you only read their old letters for a few minutes a day. God calls us to spend time with Him. True devotion calls us to stillness. To recognize the value of that relationship. Devotion is about dedication of oneself to another, and it can be measured by how much the person doing the dedicating is influenced by his or her affection for the object of the devotion.

Too many Christians call a few minutes spent praying or reading the Bible or studying it as our devotions. I think our devotion might rather be measured by what our life looks like. Is there clear evidence of becoming, becoming daily more and more like Christ, loving God and loving others more than loving self?

I think there is a place in the believer's life for Bible study, and prayer, and meditation and just simple Bible reading; I'm just not sure that "devos" is a good name for it. Perhaps that is why some call it their "quiet time." I guess I kind of like that better. Somehow either one lends itself to putting God into a time allotment, some kind of box rather than demonstrating a passion for intimacy with God.  I'm not sure what to do about it all except cultivate a sense of his presence always.  And, yes, giving some time to prayer and Bible reading and study, but a whole lot more time to stillness and meditation, to enjoying Him. 

Now, there's a thought.  Enjoying Him.  I think the longer we are still before Him, the more pleasure we will find in His company.