BXIX (Basic eXperience in Christ)

What does the basic experience in Christ look like? How do you live your day to day life as a Christian?

True Christianity is a transformative religion. That is, on the basis of divine revelation, we hold that the human race has been damaged by a moral Fall. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they brought upon themselves and all their progeny the twisting of their humanity. The goal of Christianity is to make it possible for those sharing this damaged nature to form righteous characters in spite of it, to be transformed, and in their lives to show that the power of God heals those willing to be healed.

God desires to change His people but He requires our cooperation. He does not force us to change; He offers opportunities. Each day is a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to cooperate in being transformed; a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to draw close to our Father in Heaven through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We now outline the pattern, but with this caveat. We here propose that Christians take far more seriously the biblical pattern for the day--namely, that it be viewed as encompassing a time period of evening to evening.

Genesis one sets this pattern. "And the evening and the morning were the first day" "And the evening and the morning were the second day," "And the evening and the morning were the third day..." (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13). It is true we have artificially added switches and electric lights. It is likely that a large contingent among us do not retire until a very late hour. But if the day begins biblically at sundown, then if we stay up late, actually we are beginning our day in the wrong manner. We are getting our day off to exactly the wrong start.

The general practice found in Scripture is to sleep during the dark portion of the day and to rise and be active during the lighted part (Genesis 28:11, 18; 1 Samuel 3:3, 15; Esther 6:1; Job 4:13; Ecclesiastes 5:12; Matthew 1:24). Although most of these texts are more descriptive than prescriptive, still we acknowledge that God designed the creation before sin entered in with a dark period and a lighted period. We acknowledge that humans, from before sin entered the world were intended to operate not only according to a daily cycle but a weekly and an annual one. Especially Seventh-day Adventists, who emphasize a return to God’s weekly order, should be examples of a return to His daily order.

There would certainly be a logic to presenting this material on a morning to evening basis. But we instead offer you the plan from evening unto evening perspective.

Evening

(Family Worship Event) Gather up the family, as many as are able to be present, and as a group have at least a brief season of worship. It can be as simple as reading a few verses and then having one offer prayer, but try to do something. Do not make this a mere arbitrary interruption of everyone’s lives. Hopefully, long years of Christianity experienced by the family will make this almost natural. If not, then seek the Lord for wisdom to make such a reform in your household. Years ago we bought each family member a hymnal and kept them together in one place in our home where we held worship. If nothing else, you can sing a few hymns and pray. This will help to remember God and also bind you together as a family.

Retirement for Evening

We make a serious mistake when we stay up until we are mentally exhausted. The body uses the night hours especially to rebuild itself. The body is a veritable soup of chemistry, and has its built-in rhythms that must be respected if we would experience optimum health. When I was a student I discovered this quotation:

I know from the testimonies given me from time to time for brain workers, that sleep is worth far more before than after midnight. Two hours' good sleep before twelve o'clock is worth more than four hours after twelve o'clock (Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, p. 224).

For most of my years, I have had very little of this sleep that "is worth far more." If we would be asleep by nine, we would get three of these double hours. Before midnight then would we have the equivalent of six hours' sleep?

Here is another pointed thought:

In eating, drinking, and dressing, the laws of health should be diligently followed, and in regulating the hours for sleep, there should be no haphazard work. No student should form the habit of sitting up late at night to burn the midnight oil, and then take the hours of day for sleep. If they have been accustomed to doing this at home, they should seek to correct their habits and go to rest at a seasonable hour, and rise in the morning refreshed for the day’s duties. In our schools the lights should be extinguished at half past nine (Christian Education, p. 124).

We should close out our day with enough mental and emotional energy to fulfill the following plan:

Prayerful Review

Let ministers make the actions of each day a subject of careful thought and deliberate review, with the object of becoming better acquainted with their own habits of life. By a close scrutiny of every circumstance of the daily life, they would know better their own motives and the principles which govern them. This daily review of our acts, to see whether conscience approves or condemns, is necessary for all who wish to reach perfection of Christian character. Many acts which pass for good works, even deeds of benevolence, will, when closely investigated, be found to be prompted by wrong motives (Gospel Workers, 1915 ed., p. 275).

Is this merely a practice for ministers? No, for we are told that te practice is "necessary for all who wish to reach perfection of Christian character." Perfection of Christian character is for all Christians, not just ministers.

The concept of daily review is mentioned several times. Clearly, this is something that takes place in the evening. The primary activities of the day just past are over. The goal is to know ourselves better, avoid self-deception better than we otherwise would.

The subject of this close personal scrutiny? Our own actions during the day that is ended. Not just our actions, but an awareness of our own behavior patterns, is sought. Our efficiency, our motivations, an increased awareness of the principles we are demonstrating before the world--all will be better understood when we incorporate into our experience this kind of daily practice.

In fact, such a review helps us sharpen a conscience dulled by daily contact with a world in rebellion against God's moral order. It will make us sober and fill us with resolve for our Lord Jesus Christ to better represent Him on the morrow.

You will fear that as you come to this part of your day, you will be too mentally exhausted to accomplish an adequate review. Yes, absolutely. Unless you change your basic time pattern for retiring for the night and rising, you likely won’t have the needed energy. Rise earlier, take your meals earlier, then go to bed at a seasonable, reasonable hour. Then include this daily review in your evening devotional time and go to sleep trusting in your Redeemer!

Final Filling

Consider this passage:

He [Jesus] would sometimes take His disciples with Him to this place of retirement, that they might join their prayers with His. In prayer Christ had power with God, and prevailed. Morning by morning, and evening by evening, He received grace that He might impart to others. Then, His soul replenished with grace and fervor, He would set forth to minister to the souls of men (Signs of the Times, July 15, 1908).

We find that Jesus set aside some of His time "evening by evening" to receive grace that He might impart to others. The task of the daily review is distinct and so I have placed this "final filling" separate from that and after it as the last thing in the day. What is easy to do as your "last act" for the day is to lay down in bed and stab your remote bringing the television screen to life. Bad move. A better alternative? Fill your mind with God's Word as the last item for the day. I close my evening by reading one chapter of Scripture. Thus, the last thing in my mind is God's Word and some prayer time. I call it my final filling. You might consider it as your topping off the tank for the day.

When you make Scripture the last thing in your mind, you are setting yourself up to think the right kind of thoughts at the end of the day. All day long Satan has been seeking to divert your attention from the spiritual. Now, you defy him one last time by topping off the tank with God's Word. It puts the right stuff in your mind and it is a last rejection of worldliness, a parting demonstration that you want to go in the way of God. Now you rest.

How often have we gone to bed anxious over a problem at work, a challenge at school, a concern in our family life. And yet, the Bible offers us a different picture. Psalm 4:8 shows that God gives us peace when it is time to retire for the day. Psalm 127:1, 2 remind us that those who are anxious may rise early to accomplish a matter, or stay up very late to accomplish it, but that all this may be in vain. An ordered day and a temperate lifestyle, retiring when it is time to retire, trusting in God, will help us experience the optimum pattern that God has designed.

Notice this brief passage from Psalm 132:3-5:

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

This is actually about King David's determination to build a permanent house for the Lord, to bring the ark from Shiloh to Jerusalem. Yet, is there not a personal application for us? Should we retire for the day before we have settled things with God? All the busy activities of the day relentlessly press upon us. In our haste we may loose God out of our reckoning without having meant to. Then we toss and turn, eyes open. The mind seems to refuse to shut down although we have retired for the day. How much better to conclude our waking hours with a setting in order.

If we trust in God, He will give us sweet sleep. When we keep His commandments and know we have kept them, we will rest in the night. "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet" (Proverbs 3:24).

The "Guilt" Objection

Unfortunately, some have been so conditioned by the anti-law viewpoints they grew up in the midst of, that they will see this idea of self-examination and daily review to be just another cultic means of inducing guilt. They will fear that such a review will chill and sour the Christian experience, and lead to abject despair over behavioral failures.

Remember (1), such have likely been taught to consider even the momentary feeling of temptation as being the same as sinning itself. Satan can harass, he can inject wicked ideas, but he cannot force us to make them our own. Through God's power we can reject the sinful idea, refuse to further process the thought, rejecting contamination altogether.

Satan assailed Christ with his fiercest and most subtle temptations, but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those battles were fought in our behalf; those victories make it possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all who seek it. No man without his own consent can be overcome by Satan. The tempter has no power to control the will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress, but he cannot contaminate. He can cause agony, but not defilement. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight manfully the battle against sin and Satan (The Great Controversy, p. 510).

And (2), God urges us to participate with Him in a process of self examination (Psalm 139:23, 24; 26:2; 1 Corinthians 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5). The purpose is not to depress us but to help us see where we can cooperate with God, receive His power, and experience changed lives. The purpose is not to induce unnecessary feelings of guilt, but to hasten the process of my personal transformation. When we have sinned, conviction of sin is good, not bad; helpful and necessary, not otherwise.

And (3), we are operating on the basis of biblical expectations about what is possible, even necessary, in fallen man (Genesis 4:7; Hebrews 12:14; Revelation 3:21). But some have been taught that overcoming is an impossibility and so, in their paradigm, logically view talk of actual overcoming as being nonsense. "We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun" (Steps to Christ, pp. 99, 100). That statement originates in the following. Notice:

We should encourage gratitude and praise, and always be found warring against every unholy impulse, crushing out of the soul every unclean lust. This is the warfare that must be accomplished. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts may turn to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. The sunflower keeps its face sunward. If it is turned from the light, it will twist itself on the stem, until it lifts up its petals to the bright beams of the sun. So let everyone who has given his heart to God, turn to the Sun of Righteousness, and eagerly look up to receive the bright beams of the glory that shine in the face of Jesus. Thus we may educate the soul to press its way out of the corrupted moral atmosphere of the world, of sin and selfishness, into the atmosphere that is divine and health-giving (Signs of the Times, December 16, 1889).

Morning

First Thought Upon Rising

When first we rise, what are our thoughts? We should command our own thoughts. We should not let ourselves drop into emotional autopilot. We ought to be purposeful.

Many of us may set an alarm to wake us. Sometimes such alarms are set to turn on the radio or a television set. You can begin your day with helpful information this way about the weather, traffic problems to avoid, and so forth, but I recommend that if you begin your day with an electronic alarm that you set it to go off by launching a CD of instrumental hymn or inspirational music. If you hear words right away your mind will tend to begin thinking on those words. But it is better to begin the day with your own thoughts. For example, consider the following:

You are not to trust simply in pleasant emotions. Suppose that after you have been filled with joy, you should rise in the morning under a cloud, with the same train of shadowy thoughts as have troubled you in the past. Would that be an evidence that God had left you during the night? Not at all. It would simply be an evidence that your mind has so long been trained in the line of unbelief, that it is from force of habit running in the doubting channel. Dwell on the faith side of the question. Educate your thoughts in the line of God's mercy. Educate your tongue to speak of his goodness. Train the whole mind and soul to act in faith. It is praising Satan when you talk so continuously of your doubts and darkness. You are glorifying the prince of darkness when you give up your thoughts and words to follow in the shadow he casts on your pathway. Let your first morning thought be, 'How good is the Lord! He is full of goodness and tender mercy.'' Praise Him. Say, 'Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee' When the darkness of the enemy begins to sweep over you, say, 'I do love the Lord. I know that I love Him, and I know that the Lord loves me, even me' (Signs of the Times, March 18, 1889).

You can train yourself to think this thought first. Memorize the sentences, then make it a competition with yourself. If you didn't start the morning with the thought, then recite the thought to yourself immediately and rejoice in it.

Prayer of Consecration

After our first thought should be a purposing in our heart to consecrate ourselves to the Lord. We should talk to the Lord. We should ask Him to act. Tell Him to take us as being entirely His own today. Ask Him to use you this day, to abide with you today. Yesterday's intense purpose to follow God was for yesterday. Today you renew it. And tomorrow and the next day. Acknowledge that you expect Him to work through providence, that you expect Him to use you for the advance of His kingdom. Today. You thus learn to live every day by faith.

Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, 'Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.' This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ (Steps to Christ, p. 70).

When you awoke, you called to mind your first morning thought. Now, you conduct your first morning work; now you consecrate yourself to God. You may have, indeed, should have plans for the day. And these, generally, are how you will pass your day. But you are to give even these plans to Him. You ask Him to modify the events of your day according to His purposes for you today. Often your day will flow smoothly but sometimes He will add surprising changes. Let Him. We seek an orderly day each day, for God is a God of order and He refuses to bless chaos.

Personal Devotions

Purposing how we will live today is one thing. We also need our morning meal. We need to fill our mind with God's Word. This will brace us against every challenge, it will preoccupy the soil with the right kind of subject matter to make us real Christians.

Our first work of the day is not to turn on the television or radio, to hear the latest news, or to think of those things which we will naturally encounter in our workaday world. Our first work is to take mental and spiritual nourishment. We are, first, spiritual beings. Our first food each day should be spiritual. The morning is quiet, the mind is clear, the emotional faculty has been refreshed. This is prime time. Prime time is not evening but morning hours.

Some of us will say, "No, I am a night person." That's what I said for years. But I married a morning person. And I can tell you that whether you feel you are inclined toward staying up late or getting up early, the fact is that when we first rise, this is when we are most refreshed. This is when we are setting our plans for the day, when we have a fresh opportunity to take charge of our thoughts. Whatever you think you are, set that aside and plan to make the morning your prime time with God. The fact is that in the morning, whatever you think you are, your body has just completed a sleep cycle, a rest and repair period. Now consider this passage:

As Christ offered His prayer to His Father He uttered these words. 'I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but keep them from the evil.' The world is a land of emptiness: It is a world good and beautiful of itself but man has become so sensual and depraved so embittered against God that the earth itself groans under the weight of accumulated guilt, you must cultivate firm principle in the midst of surrounding infidelity, hypocrisy, pride, and profligacy. You must be Bible students and carry Bible rules into your every day life. In no case allow knavery deception and dishonesty to beguile you from your simplicity. Be it your constant study how you will best attain and cherish that which God values, the ornament of purity and meekness, that the world will be better for your having lived in it. Like the pure lily you need faith's penetrating root descending beneath the outward things which do appear to gather spiritual strength to invigorate and give purity and goodness to the life. The study of the Bible, the hours of secret communion with God, meditation upon heavenly themes will develop into purity of character resembling the spotless lily. The life of God in the soul is Christ in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This springing up into life will refresh all who connect with you. If your character is such that God can approve, it will be a complete Christian character filled with grace that is not assumed, but that has a natural growth. If your affections are obedient unto Christ your motives pure, there will be in your life, in your every day deportment, lessons of instruction to all around you. You will be living epistles known and read of all men. Your connection with God will lift you above every thing that has a debasing tendency, your pure and uncorrupted life will be ever pointing your school-mates and old associates upward to God and heaven saying to them you must seek peace and purity and happiness from above. Jesus is the source of your comfort strength and fortitude, amid vexation, trials and grievous temptations. The leaves of some trees and flowers seem naturally to gather dust which adheres to them, and mars their color and beauty. This is the case with many youths; they do not see the necessity of vigilant watchfulness and earnest prayer to keep themselves pure, and their Christian character is always dingy. They need to wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb (Signs of the Times, February 7, 1878).

Did you hear that? The study of the Bible, the hours of secret communion with God, meditation on heavenly themes, will develop into purity of character. See, it takes time, it takes development.

A pure and holy faith is to be gained only by a diligent searching of the Scriptures; and there is danger even in this, unless the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit shall shine into the chambers of the mind. The Bible is the most precious of books; and reading and understanding its truths, making a practical application of them to the daily life, will be of the highest benefit, elevating and ennobling the character. Very many might know more of the Bible, if they would make the best use of their time, improving the minutes by diligently searching the Scriptures, testing every doctrine of faith by the law and the testimony. 'If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them' (Review and Herald, December 2, 1884).

A pure and holy faith is within your reach. But to reach for it will mean embarking on a diligent searching of the Scriptures. If you feed on the Bible you cannot help but begin to make its principles the elements of your character.

When you make the Bible your food, your meat, and your drink, when you make its principles the elements of your character, you will know better how to receive counsel from God, and will be partakers of His divine nature. Let us all search the Scriptures, for in them you will find our Saviour a present help in every time of need. I exalt the precious Word before you today (Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, p. 248).

Men are changed in accordance with what they contemplate. If commonplace thoughts and affairs take up the attention, the man will be commonplace. If he is too negligent to obtain anything but a superficial understanding of truth, he will not receive the rich blessings that God would be pleased to bestow upon him. It is the law of the mind that it will narrow or expand to the dimensions of the things with which it becomes familiar. The mental powers will surely become contracted and will lose their ability to grasp the deep meanings of the Word of God unless they are put vigorously and persistently to the task of searching for truth. The mind will enlarge if it is employed in tracing out the relation of the subjects of the Bible to one another, comparing scripture with scripture, and spiritual things with spiritual. The richest treasures of thought are waiting for the diligent student (Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, pp. 460, 461).

There is a law of the mind, which is that the value of what you feed it causes it to expand in order to grasp the broader vistas, or to contract so as to fit the more superficial ones. You choose the kind of mind, and hence, person, that you become.

But what about bias. Are not we all biased, trapped in our age, in our culture, in some measure? Listen closely, and learn something:

The Bible is not exalted to its rightful place among the books of the world, although its study is of infinite importance to the souls of men. In searching its pages the imagination beholds scenes majestic and eternal. We behold Jesus, the Son of God, coming to our world, and engaging in the mysterious conflict that discomfited the powers of darkness. O how wonderful, how almost incredible it is, that the infinite God would consent to the humiliation of His own Son that we might be elevated to a place with Him upon His throne! Let every student of the Scriptures contemplate this great fact, and he will not come from a study of the Bible without being purified, elevated, and ennobled. The truth will be opened to the mind, and applied to the heart by the Spirit of God. [Through connection with God, the Christian will have clearer and broader views, unbiased by his own preconceived opinions. His discernment will be more penetrating, his faculties better balanced. His mind, exercised in the contemplation of exalted truths, will be expanded, and in obtaining heavenly knowledge he will better understand his own weakness, and will grow in faith and humility.] When there is little attention given to the Word of God, divine counsels are not heeded, admonitions are in vain, grace and heavenly wisdom are not sought that past sins may be avoided and every taint of corruption cleansed from the character. David prayed, 'Make me to understand the way of thy precepts; so shall I talk of thy wonderful works.... Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law' (Bible Echo, October 15, 1892).

As we read God's Word and remain connected to His mind, we will have clearer views and they will be uncolored by bias or our own preconceived opinions. Every taint of corruption will be able to be cleansed from the character. These are large thoughts.

A few more: "There is no book from the perusal of which the mind is so much elevated and strengthened and expanded as the Bible" (Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 244). "The mind will be of the same character as the food is composed of upon which it has been fed. There is only one remedy; that is, to become conversant with the Scriptures" (Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, p. 259). Alright then, enough about how powerful the Bible is. What should we do about it every morning?

Our best energies are available upon rising, and we are laboring to cooperate with God in making us living sacrifices (Romans 12:1, 2). Therefore, we should give these best energies to the preparation of the living sacrifice. After we have consecrated ourselves to the Lord, we should give ourselves to a serious time for personal devotions, in particular, Bible reading.

I recommend that you read several chapters every morning, and that you pursue a systematic study of God’s Word. Consider reading at least three chapters in the morning. If you read one in the evening and three in the morning, then apart from any other study, you are traveling at a speed of four chapters per day. The Bible has less than 1200 chapters, and at four chapters a day you will be through the Bible in less than a year.

Here is another place again to make my case for extensive Scripture reading by the Christian. We have before talked about how our wall-papering of our minds with Scripture means our choosing to shape life and perception according to the values and ideas God has revealed to us. It takes a conscious choice and an active spending of our life energies to press these values upon ourselves until they saturate and permeate us and inform our behavior and the power of our interaction with the world. Another thing to keep in mind is the simple point that every different religious perspective represents a relatively self-consistent system. In other words, Methodism makes tremendous sense to Methodists because Methodism as a system, from inside Methodism and the presuppositions of Methodism, appears to work. Judaism, from within Judaism, with its own set of religious authorities, hermeneutics, and emphases, offers a system that makes perfect sense to the Jew. And so will basically every religious perspective.

But of course, religious systems have two varieties: some are essentially true and some essentially false. Truth will prepare us for heaven and shape our behavior so that God’s character is vindicated through it. Error will never make us holy. Truth makes a difference.

If a person is ever going to increase his understanding of God's ways, or to escape from a false religious system, he needs to drink deeply from the revealed information of God. The more Scripture you seal your brain with, the wider the context you can work with when you are weighing questions of truth and error. It is like increasing your ability to see. You can look out of a small hole and see so much, but make the hole larger and you can see more. When you see less, you are subject to a greater possibility of misunderstanding.

We want to see more and more. Nothing could be more practical. If we are wrong about what we believe then we need to know it. I don't think we are wrong. Seventh-day Adventist belief, rightly understood and rightly lived, is best-of-breed Christianity. It is where you land if you take both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek seriously. It is where you land when you get past the layers of tradition and ideology that intervene between God's Word and your thinking. The better we understand God's Word, the more readily we will be able to not only live the Third Angel's Message in full resolution, but aid others in finding the clearer path. We must be afraid neither of exploring nor of knowing or of saying to someone, "Based on what I have come to understand so far, this is my best understanding of the truth of God."

You may ask, what about Bible study? Isn't Bible study more important than Bible reading? Bible study is enormously important. But friends, Bible reading provides the foundation that you need for serious Bible study. As you read God's word, its truth seeps into you. You are affected by it, enlivened. Your heavenly Father speaks to you through prophets and righteous people. You gather up the broader lines of Scripture and safeguard yourself from narrow applications and misapplications because the tenor of truth is continuously alive in your thinking. You are arming the Holy Spirit to bring to your attention in your study time that which He will previously have opened to you.

Yes, I advocate Bible reading first and more than study. There is time for study, and you should be studying the Bible regularly, daily even. But your first priority is to saturate your mind with the whole spectrum of truth from Genesis to Revelation. Then you, and those who study with you, will benefit much more from your study.

The Holy Spirit has been given to us as an aid in the study of the word. Jesus promises, 'The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' Those who are under the training of the Holy Spirit will be able to teach the word intelligently. And when it is made the study book, with earnest supplication for the Spirit's guidance, and a full surrender of the heart to be sanctified through the truth, it will accomplish all that Christ has promised. The result of such Bible study will be well-balanced minds; for the physical, mental, and moral powers will be harmoniously developed. There will be no paralysis in spiritual knowledge. The understanding will be quickened; the sensibilities will be aroused; the conscience will become sensitive; the sympathies and sentiments will be purified; a better moral atmosphere will be created; and a new power to resist temptation will be imparted. And all, both teachers and students, will become active and earnest in the work of God (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 433).

Fellow travelers, the best psychologist, the best doctor, is God. His Holy Spirit will healingly apply His Holy Word to our individual cases if we are consenting. The changes will be powerful indeed!

Personal Project

We all should have, in addition to our basic prayers and reading, a personal project as well. for someone, it might be to study through the doctrines we hold better. Or, to become highly informed on one or two of those doctrines or a certain cluster of teachings. For someone it could be to learn a biblical language for study purposes, or another language for missionary purposes. Then there is the possibility of taking the Bible by sections and learning it to a very great degree of familiarity.

One might choose to read through the gospels ten times as their personal project. Or one of the gospels 20 times. Or through the first five books of the Bible 24 times. Or to study a specific point, like the trumpets or the sealing or the 2300 days. Although some topics may strike you as much more interesting, be willing to study areas that may not have as much immediate appeal to you. If we are going to allow God to make us into rounded Christians instead of jagged ones, we need to let Him guide us and be willing to let Him strengthen us in not only present truth, but the very basics even of Christianity sometimes.

Acquire the tools you need for your personal project. You may need a Young's Concordance, or some Bible search software or app, or an interlinear Bible with another language in the margins, or just a Bible with easier to read print for your eyes. Maybe your reading skills can be improved. Maybe it is easier for you to listen to an MP3 file or a CD. Do whatever it takes to keep on growing in the knowledge of the Lord as a Christian. Keep your projects within reach of attainment, don't make them so big that you are unable to realistically accomplish them. But do consider having some kind of personal project beside all your Bible reading and study of the Sabbath School Quarterly as well.

Family Worship Event

After our personal devotions, we should, if at all possible, have a family worship event as we start the day. Here is how it was for Mrs. White:

We have family prayers just before breakfast, which is at half past seven. I generally retire at seven o’clock in the evening (Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, p. 258).

Mrs. White rose long before seven o'clock and accomplished her personal devotions before time for family worship. Now, today's sermon is not about the specifics of family worship; it is centered more on the basics for conducting one's personal devotional life. But let us seek to hold a family worship event in the morning in our house.

Regularity in Eating and Resting

We should set ourselves to organize our daily life so that we live much more temperately and we have organized ourselves for much more regularity. Consider the following counsel from Ellen White's book, Child Guidance. Do some need to finish the task of parenting ourselves for ourselves that our own parents may have left unfinished?

How prevalent is the habit of turning day into night, and night into day. Many youth sleep soundly in the morning, when they should be up with the early singing birds and be stirring when all nature is awake.

Some youth are much opposed to order and discipline. They do not respect the rules of the home by rising at a regular hour. They lie in bed some hours after daylight, when everyone should be astir. They burn the midnight oil, depending upon artificial light to supply the place of the light that nature has provided at seasonable hours. In so doing they not only waste precious opportunities, but cause additional expense. But in almost every case the plea is made, 'I cannot get through my work; I have something to do; I cannot retire early.' ... The precious habits of order are broken, and the moments thus idled away in the early morning set things out of course for the whole day.

Our God is a God of order, and He desires that His children shall will to bring themselves into order and under His discipline. Would it not be better, therefore, to break up this habit of turning night into day, and the fresh hours of the morning into night? If the youth would form habits of regularity and order, they would improve in health, in spirits, in memory, and in disposition.

It is the duty of all to observe strict rules in their habits of life. This is for your own good, dear youth, both physically and morally. When you rise in the morning, take into consideration, as far as possible, the work you must accomplish during the day. If necessary, have a small book in which to jot down the things that need to be done, and set yourself a time in which to do your work (Child Guidance, pp. 111, 112).

Men of business can be truly successful only by having regular hours for rising, for prayer, for meals, and for retiring. If order and regularity are essential in worldly business, how much more so in the work of God! (Gospel Workers, p. 278).

You have not disciplined yourself to regularity. System is everything. Do but one thing at a time, and do that well, finishing it before you begin a second piece of work. You should have regular hours for rising, for praying, and for eating. Many waste hours of precious time in bed because it gratifies the natural inclination and to do otherwise requires an exertion. One hour wasted in the morning is lost never to be recovered (Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 182).

Many of us have a work of reform to accomplish in these areas. Don't be discouraged. Be thankful. And resolve to begin this very day to make reforms.

Daily Prayer, Meals, Use of the Closet, Daily Attitude

For many, the bulk of the day is spent working away from home for some corporation, often for an hourly wage. When we are on a time clock, we should be faithfully working; we have agreed with the employer and our time is his in those hours. And yet, as Christians, first and foremost, we belong to God. It is right for us to pray often throughout the day, even the workday. It is more difficult to spend time in closeted prayer. The commute is another matter. You can often benefit by listening to the Bible or other spiritual recordings while enroute. Again, I recommend listening to the Bible itself more than to sermons or Christian music. Spend your energies feeding from the source instead of what others have derived from the source.

Prayer should not be limited to once or twice a day. Consider:

Men and women who profess to be disciples of Christ and to keep all the commandments of God will have to feel in their daily lives the true spirit of agonizing to enter in at the strait gate. The agonizing ones are the only ones who will urge their passage through the strait gate and narrow way that lead to life eternal, to fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Those who merely seek to enter in will never be able. The entire Christian life of many will be spent in no greater effort than that of seeking, and their only reward will be to find it an utter impossibility for them to enter in at that strait gate (Testimonies, vol. 2, pp. 479, 480).

They are unwilling to make exertions, to deny self, to agonize before God, to pray long and earnestly for the blessing, and therefore they do not obtain it. That faith which will live through the time of trouble must be daily in exercise now (The Story of Redemption, p. 99).

Who has the heart? With whom are our thoughts? Of whom do we love to converse? Who has our warmest affections and our best energies? If we are Christ’s, our thoughts are with Him, and our sweetest thoughts are of Him. All we have and are is consecrated to Him. We long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do His will, and please Him in all things (Steps to Christ, p. 58).

Finally, a word about prayer at meals. Why do we pray at mealtime? Is it to ask God to change the food? To make it fit for us to eat? Can the Christian pray over a ham and cheese sandwich and be confident that God will make the food fit to eat because he has prayed over it? God does not change food when we pray over it. It either is, or is not, acceptable as food before we pray. It either is or is not "sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:5). Notice the necessity that the Word of God sanctify the food.

Our prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s provision. Actually, I like the Jewish practice, which is to pray both before and after the meal. The practice is based in Deuteronomy 8:10-14:

When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Before eating, prayer is offered to thank God for what He has provided. After eating He is thanked in prayer so that having been enriched by Him we will not forget Him. It would be wise to implement this same plan.

Conclusion

For many here present, that which we have here spoken of would represent nothing short of a revolution in your life. Absolutely. And yet, I can only offer it to you as a return to Christianity 101. There are certain things that, if we lack them, cause us to lack even the basic experience in Christ.

So let’s review the basic pattern—from evening to evening:

1. (Family Worship Time.)
2. Proper Time of Early Retirement For Evening.
3. Prayerful Review of the Day Just Past.
4. Final Filling.
5. First Thought Upon Rising.
6. Prayer of Consecration.
7. Personal Devotions (with personal project).
8. (Family Worship Event.)
9. Closet Time as Necessary.

Being a Christian isn't something that just happens. We must, in the power of God make exertions, deny self, agonize before God, pray long and earnestly for the blessing. Much it boils down very simply to whether we are spending our time on a daily basis actually being Christians. Doubtless, some here have never considered as we have these two weeks the serious impact of implementing a comprehensive devotional life. But that's OK. We are, after all, Seventh-day Adventists, reformers to the core. Heaven will help us to redeem the time. Begin today!

Presentations:

Mentone CA SDA 2006-09-16