Are Daily Devotional Books (and Sunday School Curriculum) Overused?

Christian books and pamphlets called “daily devotionals” usually follow the format of quoting a Bible verse and then having a Christian preacher or writer express their opinion about it through short insights and catchy illustrations. Then they end with a brief, written prayer. It all usually fits nicely on one page, and they do one for each day of the year.

Many Christians read one or more devotionals every day. (Believe it or not, sometimes they even prefer reading a devotional instead of the Bible.) However, for some reason I’ve never been able to stay with a daily devotional book. When I read the Scripture for the day original insights come to my mind that are so inspiring that I have no interest in reading what the devotional author has to say.

I believe that God wants to speak directly to everyone who reads a Bible verse by giving them fresh, original insights and revelation as they read and ponder the significance of what the verse means. Try it for yourself. Open the Bible. Read a verse. Then wait and notice any thoughts that come to your mind about the verse. Read it again and again and notice what comes to your mind. Don’t rush off. Be patient until you get some insight. Then write it down. What you write will be much more powerful in your life than what some devotional writer wrote. Why? Because you have written down something that God directly gave to you — not some second-hand comment from another person!

And how about Sunday school curriculum? Most churches spend money on Sunday school curriculum. That is, they purchase booklets that have lesson plans and lessons that are written for a particular age group from toddles to senior citizens. Most of the Sunday school classes that I attended when I was growing up were nothing more than the teacher reading the lesson directly from the booklet.

One nondenominational curriculum is called “Orange.” I’ve always preferred “Black” — the black leather Bible. I taught Sunday school for many years. I always opened the Bible to a particular book and asked people to go through that book with me. Someone would read a few verses and then people were free to share what they got from those verses. I learned so much from the “students” in the class and discovered that ordinary people have amazing insights about the Bible. You will to if you will trust the Holy Spirit to teach and inspire you.

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