It’s never been a secret: one of the pillars of our life in the Christian faith is God’s Word. The preaching in worship, Bible study, and daily devotions are all modes of our exposure to what God wants to say to us and take to heart. “Taste and see that the Lord is good”—concerning the Word and making it part of ourselves—is an essential practice for a well-nourished faith. Unless we make some effort, though, we can easily end up limited to a weekly (or less often) meal served on Sunday; however wonderful a sermon may be, we cannot consider ourselves well-nourished on one meal a week!
Making time for devotions each day—Bible reading, meditation, and prayer—is an effective way to avert malnutrition. We have many tools available for this, the most accessible for us are present in our hallway at church. The Word in Season is a small booklet of daily devotionals published by Augsburg-Fortress (A-F), the publishing house for the ELCA. Another similar booklet, also by A-F, is Christ in Our Home. Quite a few other devotionals are readily available too: Portals of Prayer (LC-MS), The Upper Room (United Methodist), Our Daily Bread (ODB Ministries), and many other on-line or printed materials (see https://www.elca.org/worship for more resources).
Of the two publications from A-F, I prefer Christ in Our Home. This seems more closely tied to the Sunday worship texts as well as those for special days in the church year, and generally more thoughtful in its approach to scripture. Whatever your preference may be, I hope you will avail yourself of some manner of daily devotions, especially one that includes a portion of scripture. Regularly nourishing your faith through the Word and conversation with God will carry over into all facets of your life, and make you much more resilient in dealing with whatever the world may throw at you.
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