During
2021, instead of sitting in the employee breakroom for 15 minutes, drinking coffee
and reading Twitter, I have tried to use my morning break for my devotional
time.
My
wife bought a book titled “The Bible in 365 Days for Men,” by Stefan Joubert, a
couple of Christmases ago, so I used that book for my devotional reading. This
fellow, Joubert, is a professor of Theology at someplace called the University
of the Free State, wherever that is. Moreover, according to the short bio in
the back of the book, he is “editor of a large e-church on the Internet.” I do
not know what in the Sam Hill it means to be an “editor” of an “e-church.” I
thought churches had pastors, not editors, but as a workingman, apparently I am
ignorant of the real state of theology.
Despite
all that church editor nonsense, this devotional book has been valuable to my
spiritual life. For each day, Professor Joubert takes a big hunk of scripture
and writes a brief thought about its meaning to preface each day’s reading. I
like that the devotional reading is primarily scripture.
On
the other hand, I also like the devotional guide I am using this year for my
morning break, “My Utmost for His Highest,” by someone named Oswald Chambers.
This author takes the other way of writing devotionals, using a verse, maybe
two, of scripture each day with a short essay about his interpretation of the
passage.
I
like both books, so I use Chambers’s book in the morning break, and I am going
through Joubert’s again this year, but for my afternoon break instead. I get
some valuable insight from both authors, who use different approaches.
One
of my co-workers asked what I was reading and when I showed her, she asked why.
I
joked, “So you don’t have to ‘run, hide or fight’ on account of me.’” She
laughed.
That
was a bit of company humor, but, honestly, the reading and thinking about what
the authors of the devotionals say about the scripture passages combine to keep
me focused on Jesus even when I’m in the aisles working.
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