I’m a creature of habit. I love routines. I get up about the same time each day, take my walk, write my blog post, shower, dress, eat my breakfast and head off to work. Routines give me a sense of security, help me keep my priorities straight, and make me more efficient.
The problem with routines is they can become, well, routine. Doing the same thing day-after-day, just because that’s the way I’ve always done it, leaves me out of touch and, frankly, bored.
The same thing can happen in our devotional life. We read the same passages over-and-over, mouth the same prayers. We show up in church each week out of habit and chant the same songs. We listen to the sermon, but the words are just droning background noise lulling us to sleep. Worship has just become another routine routine.
Even God gets tired of this. He says “when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” (Matthew 6:7 NKJV). He says of our worship routines, “Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (Isaiah 1:14 NIV).
God wants to break us out of our routines, to bring us back to life, to give meaning to our days, to restore joy to our worship. He’s not interested in our meaningless routines. He wants us to put our words into action, to worship Him not just with the things we say, but with the things we do.
He says, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:6, 7).
Are you stuck in a routine in your daily life or in your worship? Then it’s time to do something different, to take your focus off yourself and do something for another. If you do, “Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear.” (v. 8).
Routines are great until they become just that, routine. Break the cycle, open your heart to someone else, and learn today what it really means to “worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth…” (John 4:23).
Happy Sabbath!