{"id":143,"date":"2004-05-21T22:48:19","date_gmt":"2004-05-21T22:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/05\/daily_quiet_tim.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:48:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:48:44","slug":"daily_quiet_tim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/05\/daily_quiet_tim.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Daily Quiet Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shrode at the Thinklings posted twice this month (here<\/a> and indirectly here<\/a>) about having daily quiet times. I agree with him on the importance of a consistent time with God, both in prayer and Bible study. Acts 2:42 says that the first Christians were devoted to 4 things, and prayer and the scriptures (if you interpret the ‘apostles teachings’ as scripture) were two of them. Frankly, it’s all too easy for me to get independent and self-reliant and start skipping or abbreviating my quiet times. Prayer time comes much easier for me. I’ve just never been a bookworm, and reading my Bible is no exception. If you visit here regularly, you know I’ve been posting my notes from my Bible studies. You can visit here <\/a>and see that I’ve been less than regular in that. It’s a constant challenge for me, but one I will continue to try to rise to.
\nTaking Shrode’s words as a starting point, I wanted to comment here on the idea that it must be daily. I hear that from nearly every Christian who speaks of it. To challenge it seems almost sacrilege. Frankly, in my 15 years as a disciple, it caused me a bit of grief and guilt. When I’d miss a day of Bible reading, I felt less a Christian. If I didn’t pray enough, I felt less a Christian. To some degree, my Bible study was out of obligation, not desire to learn and know God.
\nTo cut to the chase, I think we place too much emphasis on the ‘daily’. There are many of folks like me who aren’t readers. We risk damaging those folks by criticizing them for not reading daily<\/i>. A commitment to the Bible isn’t a commitment to a schedule. Frankly, in recent years as I’ve realized that missing a day or too doesn’t necessarily say anything about my commitment to the scriptures. There was a time as I came to that realization that I swung the other way and didn’t read much at all. Since then, however, my desire to read has actually grown. It’s now about me learning about God not punching my spiritual time clock.
\nMost of the Christians of the first century (and probably many centuries after) actually couldn’t read and there was no Bible or scroll available to them. A select few had them and could read and I imagine that the others cherished every bit of time they could spend at those men’s feet listening to God’s word.
\nWe need to resist the temptation to put quantifiable measures on one’s spirituality or commitment. (To be fair to Shrode, he wasn’t saying that we can or should do that. His main point was only that we commit to read, among other things.) Not that we shouldn’t talk about how much we read or what we’re learning, but it’s just not as simple as daily or not, it takes knowing someone to make a comment on their commitment to scripture. Some will take this freedom and abuse it, saying they don’t have<\/i> to read and so don’t ask them to, but those folks aren’t really interested in a commitment to the Bible anyway. But I think there are plenty of committed, sincere disciples who just don’t read every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shrode at the Thinklings posted twice this month (here and indirectly here) about having daily quiet times. I agree with him on the importance of a consistent time with God,Read More Daily Quiet Time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDaily Quiet Time - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/05\/daily_quiet_tim.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daily Quiet Time - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shrode at the Thinklings posted twice this month (here and indirectly here) about having daily quiet times. 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I wrote about this subject a while ago, here. I used to get so guilted out if I missed a daily reading or two. It was liberating to come to the realization that there's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":760,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/01\/i_think_i_need.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":143,"position":1},"title":"I Think I Need a Break","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm coming to a conclusion that I've been trying to avoid for a long time. Avoid it while, ironically, implementing it by failing to post anything of substance. I need to take a break, of sorts, from blogging. I've felt like posting some stuff, felt I should be posting some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Salguod.net stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Salguod.net stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/salguod-net-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/06\/0614_gospels_in.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":143,"position":2},"title":"06\/14 – Gospels – Intros and Geneologies","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"June 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"My Chronoligical Bible was moving into Law of Moses and I didn't think I was up to that right now. I've been wanting to get back into the NT again, so Viola! It's mid-October and I'm reading the Gospels. Well, at least my Bible thinks it's October, but it thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/01\/a_tour_of_galil.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":143,"position":3},"title":"A Tour of Galilee","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been far too long since I sat down with a Bible just to read. I've been struggling to find the inspiration, battling between the desire to schedule and set goals and frankly just not wanting to. I got a call last night, however, from a new friend (we had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":75,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/02\/quiet_time_jour.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":143,"position":4},"title":"Quiet Time Journal Entries","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"February 19, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I plan on entering my quiet time notes since January over the next few days and weeks. Then I'll try to enter them each day as I read. I'll try to put in Bible Gateway lnks to the scriptures as well. 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