Are you a trifler?
That’s not a word you hear very often.
To trifle means to talk or act frivolously. If you’re a trifler, you are not taking things seriously; you are not pursuing them with purpose.
John Wesley warned his itinerant preachers against being triflers in religion:
“Fix some part of every day for private exercises…Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way: else you will be a trifler all your days” (Quoted in Steve Harper, Devotional Life, p. 11).
Wesley was calling on them to take personal responsibility for their spiritual growth. They would grow by daily reading the Bible and praying regularly.
Do you do that?
Steve Harper explains that Wesley practiced what he preached. He looked for ways to express his spiritual life throughout the day. Whether he was traveling, or working, or with family, he was intent on devoting his life to Christ. He did not try to have a devotional time, so much as a devotional life. Hence, Harper distinguishes between having a “quiet time” and living a “devotional life”:
“While it is certainly appropriate to have a quiet time with God at the beginning and end of the day, we must not see that time as equal to the devotional life or separate from the rest of our day” (Devotional Life, p. 18).
The Apostle Paul said, “For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus,” (Phil 2:21). He expected believers to seek Christ first. That seeking did not only happen for a few minutes in the morning, and then another few minutes in the evening. You are to put the things of Christ first, all the time, every day, in every way.
If that’s not true of you, are you just trifling?
Daniel R Coggins
Good challenge. I find that a core of study – message prep, long and short term – can become part of a devotional life. It has not been nor is it always easy. Challenges arise, doldrums come, but I thank God for His faithfulness at reminding me of His presence and for the necessity for me to live in His presence.
Leo Z
Well said and yes indeed! A believer whose life’s priority above all else is utter devotion to Christ and the the things of Christ, is the practical outworking in the here and now of that newness of life that is “hidden with Christ” until He returns. When He comes back, the believer will also appear with Him in glory. The believer is exhorted to seek and set their minds on those things which are above where He is as opposed to things which are here below. How a believer fares along these lines will be of great consideration in that anticipated future glory in His coming eternal Kingdom. (Colossians 3:1-4).
Thanks Pastor Shawn. Continuing to lift you and GES up in prayer to the throne of grace.
Alvin
Romans 14:7-8. After all no one of us lives with reference to himself ALONE and no one dies with reference to himself ALONE. For if we live, we live with reference to the Lord; and if we die, we die with reference to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Zane,
Paul now addresses yet another reason why believers should be careful not to pass judgement on each other in matters of personal opinion. He reminds the Romans that AFTER ALL (gar) no Christian lives in isolation as if his experience concerned only himself. On the contrary, the Christians experience is inextricably related to the Lord to whom the Christian belongs. This means that each Christian will “render an accounting of himself to God.