Devotion as Intentionality
At the end of his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus asserts metaphorically that everyone is building a house because everyone is building a life (Matthew 7: 24-27, NIV). Those who apply his teachings from the Sermon on the Mount are wisely building their house upon rock; those that do not are foolishly building their house on sand. His parable makes it clear that storms and floods assault both dwellings. Yet, both the significance of Jesus’ insights about living wisely and the intentional commitment of the listener to the shaping powers of Christ’s teaching provide the solid foundation for a life prepared to face inevitable tests and trials. Building the house requires the intentionality of the builder, especially the intentional choosing of the building’s foundation. The Lord asks his original audience, “Just what kind of house do you intend on building?” In other words, who are you intending to become? Who are you devoted to being?
My point is that the gift of intentionality is designed by God as a significant necessity in the journey, the dance, of life. It is the ability to discern—and then choose—life-affirming dances over self-destructive ones, sacred curiosities over sacrilegious ones. We can intentionally cultivate wisdom or folly. We can intentionally build a house with a strong foundation, or we can build a house on sand. We can choose a path and persist on it despite the temptations to waver, despite the occasional avalanche of distractions, barriers, and reversals. We can be purposefully choosing day-to-day, and even moment-to-moment, toward a promise land of greater wisdom and deeper love and devotion. We can defy the facade of the randomness of existence, which, if not confronted, can hurl us toward ultimate anxieties of purposelessness. This ability to intend, to choose, to be devoted is to be celebrated as a gift of God to all people.
Devotional engagement with Jesus necessitates various spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, meditation, to name a few, and is often experienced in solitude. Sometimes it is referred to as “quiet time with God.” If we are not careful, though, this description (“time with God”) can misrepresent the constancy of God’s presence and unduly minimize the sacredness of other categories of activity and thought, including our engagement with that common source of distraction--pop culture and social media.
Our Lord’s commitment to the habit of a devotional engagement with his Father often required solitude, carving out time to recharge his interior life after the demands of his disciples for instruction and the cries of the crowds for miracles. But our Lord would assert with the Psalmist of the constant presence of his Father (Psalm 16:8). So, in emphasizing that our devotional time is “time with God,” we can unduly minimize the sacredness of other categories of activity and thought, including our engagement with popular culture.
In addition, devotion to various spiritual disciplines is often the category mistakenly used as the primary barometer of spiritual health. Sometimes when asked how we are doing spiritually, we are conditioned to immediately refer to our devotional life only. This is like asking an athlete how she is doing in her sport, and she answers by referring to her healthy eating and exercise regimens. Though these are aspects of athletic excellence, the main answer comes from the athletic arena itself. For the Christian, the main arena serving as a barometer of spiritual health is interpersonal relationships and gaged by the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23).
Jesus’ wrap-up to the Sermon on the Mount—the wise and foolish life-time construction projects—sometimes appears overly simple and void of nuance. Our contemporary self-justification systems naturally push-back against the notions of life’s legacies and end results being either wise or foolish. Yet, the Savior, like the patriarchs before him, is pressing his audience, including his 21st century audience, to not be immobilized by a flurry of distractions. Jesus is inviting us to an intimate and intentional devotion-filled walk with Him! And in the process, we are building something significant, our life!
--This blog is mostly gleaned from Paul’s new book, Everyday Sabbath: How to Lead Your Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways (Cascade Books, 2021)
Paul D. Patton, Ph.D., is a professor of communication and theater at Spring Arbor University in Michigan. He has graduate degrees in Guidance and Counseling, Religious Education, and Script and Screenwriting, and a doctorate in Communication with an emphasis in theater arts. He has been married to his wife Beth for over forty years and has three daughters (all actresses)—Jessica, Emily, and Grace, three sons-in-law, David, Joe, and Eric, and four grandsons, Caleb Rock, Logan Justice, Micah Blaze, and Miles Dean.