In the first few years of my Christian life, I did not talk about my devotionals much because they simply did not fit the common understanding of a devotional. Rather than reading a light devotional or just skimming the Scripture for personal application, I loved delving into the verses, words, theology, and original language.
One morning I was in Dr. Pretlove’s class while attending Criswell College. He mentioned how he was looking at the Greek in his devotional that morning. I was stunned. After class, I questioned him about this, and even said something to the effect, “You think it is ok to delve into the Greek in a devotional”? He laughed and said, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
That was in the early 80s, and I have continued my oftentimes-substantive devotional studies, albeit without the guilt.
C.S. Lewis said, “I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books…I believe that many who find that nothing happens when they sit down…to a book of devotion would find that the heart sings while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology.”[1]
