Devotions? Eh...

So…I’m back. A short-lived "hiatus", if you want to even call it that. I’ve decided that blogging provides too great of an avenue for fleshing out what I’m thinking; therefore, if you read this, you will have to continue to deal with me, at least to a certain extent, for some time…

With that said, I’ve been thinking through something recently…

What is the purpose of a “devotional” time or “quiet time” before the Lord, and does that necessarily have to be distinct from an academic biblical/theological pursuit?

To be sure, I am going to make a distinction between the “reading” and “praying” parts of a “devotional” time, namely, in focusing on the “reading” aspect.

Now, some background to my conundrum:

Throughout graduate school, this was a constant struggle of mine – Do I need to set aside a time to read, for instance, a Proverb or a chapter from one of the gospels everyday, although I am, in one of my classes, working through the Greek in Galatians? Do I need to be, for instance, reading a Psalm everyday while, in another class, I am studying Scripture attempting to discern the hypostatic union of Christ?

Or, once I finished graduate school, I found myself prepping for sermons, etc., and I found myself trying to discern whether this prep-work needed to be separate from a daily “devotional” reading? Is not an exegetical study of Eph. 2:1-3 (i.e. the total depravity of man) “devotional”?

Or, the events of these past few months have relit my passion to write on a pastoral level, which I have done here, here, and here. But in these pastoral pursuits, does this equate to a “devotional” time, or do I need something separate?

Or, lastly, as I work for/with Dr. Preston Sprinkle on researching his various Pauline quests, this problematic question still lingers…

What’s the purpose? What’s the difference? Is there a difference?

What are your thoughts on this issue?